Keep it Safe
by Mach2K
Summary: Through a series of fibs and tall tales, Link wriggles his way into the court as Princess Zelda's personal bodyguard. But he doesn't really understand what all of it entails, and how strict the rules of the position can be. AFTER OOT.
1. Chapter 1

"But you have to go!"

"I sure as hell do not!"

"You _do_ have to, as my sworn guard!"

Zelda stamped one foot and glared at Link. He glared back; it was a good thing they were somewhere private where they could argue in peace. He'd surely get in trouble for breaking protocol by shouting back and forth with her. Privately he enjoyed it, and he suspected she did, too.

Zelda folded her arms and pouted. "You knew that being my sworn protector would mean you would have to accompany me everywhere appropriate!"

Link frowned and looked away. He'd only taken the oath but two months hence, not long after they passed Link's eighteenth birthday; of course he remembered what he swore to do, and he'd done all of it. Except for this part. "I'm just… I'm not very comfortable goin' to such an event like that."

"Well, you absolutely must. A princess of marrying age is not to be going to a ball on her own! It's inappropriate! Not to mention that you're the closest knight to my age."

Link groaned and twisted his neck. What a dreadful inconvenience!

"Please?" Zelda asked nicely, folding her hands together. She smiled and looked at him sappily. He wondered if she knew how stupid it looked.

"Fine."

She smiled brightly. "Wonderful! As if you had a choice, though. We need to pick out a dress for the occasion, you know."

"I have to wear a dress?" Now he was doing it on purpose.

"Oh yes, a big frilly pink dress with high heel slippers and a white wig four feet high." She rolled her eyes at him. "Honestly, you're such an odd fish."

-

Link'd dubbed the day he'd returned to his ten-year-old self his birthday, as a way of being reborn to the proper path of Hyrule's timeline. The seven years he'd slept away, he explored them with a new fascination, literally. He did not return to Hyrule until after the seven years had ended, and the year leading up to his eighteenth birthday, he lived in the castle marketplace, keeping quiet in a tavern and doing small repairs around the place in exchange for room and board.

Zelda had largely stayed under her father's wing, starting her official studies of the court ways. But as her eighteenth birthday approached, only a few months before the day Link declared as his birthday, she started to worry who her father would select for a guard. Though the princess helped to look over the eligible men (essentially any man over his eighteenth year, preferably betrothed so that he would not be tempted into seducing the princess), it was ultimately the king's decision. She watched the official documents, of which hundreds were to be produced and deployed around the country, being hand-lettered by the kindly nuns that cared for one of the many temples. They did beautiful work, but all the same her heart twitched in worry; suppose her father picked some doddering old fool with blind eyes and a bad leg? Or what if he picked a naïve boy, only a man because of his age, with an eye for bedding royalty?

The line of men claiming eligibility stretched forever. In the actual hall, the line was bunched and curved, divided by satin woven ropes strung across poles, but still they stretched out the door. The king had worked on a list of hurdles for the men to jump, and he shouted them at twenty-minute intervals, one after the other.

"Men who are not of noble birth are not to be eligible!"

Very few left, as very few men of common birth could actually read the declarations.

"Men who are not of eighteen years of age are not to be eligible!"

This caused a wider disparity.

"Men who are fathers or soon to be are not to be eligible!"

An even wider one now; the king had little respect for any man who tried to abandon his family for a position inside the royal family, especially with children on the way. It was a secret sore spot of his, as wars had kept him from his darling daughter for much of her childhood.

By the time Link actually got into the door, he should have been disqualified several times over, the rules shouted into the castle market by the town criers. He dressed in the very best clothes he could get on loan from the tavern; they were ill-fitting, the pants too long and the coat too wide. But he did the best he could with the aid of belts and knee-high boots, and took care to scrub his skin clean, shave his chin (though a few bites from the blade peppered his jaw) and comb his hair.

There were still hundreds of men, but the king had many more stipulations. Link failed many more of them, but he stayed where he was. It was a stupid choice, he knew, but he was foolishly brave. A scribe, hovering at the elbow of the king, wrote down each man's name, title, age, and birth date. Their numbers would be crossed against Zelda's own, to ensure a good fit on the number chart.

She hid a yawn behind her fan as the endless parade of men walked up to the stairs leading to the throne, bowed, and gave the requested information. Old men, cocky young men who winked at her (them she 'smiled' at, but it was an act of baring teeth, a threat, something they did not recognize), and a few children who joined the line out of innocence. They were met with warm smiles and treated as equals, but their numbers were not written down, so as to dispel later confusion.

When Link stepped up, Zelda's breath caught in her throat. "You," she whispered. She hadn't heard from him again, not so much as a letter. She figured he'd left Hyrule for good. But she knew him instantly. Link locked eyes with Zelda before the king, his hands respectfully behind his back, and he nodded once in her direction.

"Your name," the king asked.

Link started. "Uhhh…"

The scribe sighed. Great, another lovestruck worshipper of Zelda's beauty. There were a few of them in the line, and each time they launched into a lengthy diatribe about how they were perfect for Zelda because of their utter love and devotion to her, until they were finally dragged out by a guard.

"It's Link, Your Majesty." There, he remembered.

"Link what?"

Well damn it all, another hurdle to jump. "Link… Tolrose. Of… Northern Hyrule."

The majesty raised his eyes. "Tolrose? I have not heard that surname before."

Probably because Link had made it up entirely on the spot.

"We are a small family, sir, no more than a… uh…" Link's eyes flickered to Zelda, and she raised her eyebrows. How the hell was she to help him? It was his story he was making up. "A small viscounty, owned by my father."

The king nodded. "And you are of eighteen years of age?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." A lie.

"Betrothed?"

"No, Your Majesty." The truth. The king frowned some, but having an unpromised guard to the future queen had been tolerated before with no problems.

"When is your birthdate?"

He told them, and it was written down quickly. The date made Zelda's ears ring, and she locked eyes again with Link. They knew the significance of that day.

"Very well," the king gestured with one hand, and Link bowed, walking away, his heart pounding. Zelda had… grown a great deal. He'd already seen her as an adult, so to see her now should not have surprised him. But mayhap those seven years of wandering had dulled his memories of her, so that he could not recall her exact shape.

Zelda stared after Link, her heart having skipped every time when they locked eyes in recognition. "Father," she spoke softly, hoping to not be overheard, "I've chosen him."

The king looked round at his daughter. "Oh? Well, we'll put a note by his name. Keep in mind he is not the final decision, dear daughter."

"Yes, yes, I know." She was a bit impertinent with him, but he assumed it was her agitation at the long line, and she did not notice her rudeness, distracted.

The weeding took two months to complete. In that time, Zelda had turned eighteen, and now it was coming down to the wire. They had narrowed it down to ten men, and Zelda had used all of her resources (as in, an extensive knowledge of court gossip through her ladies-in-waiting and the maids around the castle) to shoot down every choice but Link. She would win this one, no matter the cost.

Link's numbers when run against hers lined up almost perfectly for a good match. But he wasn't the only one with that 'birth' date. However, he was one of the few whose name made an excellent match as well. He was surprised when he received the castle summons to return for the final decision, and the lady who ran the tavern pouted and hugged him tight, declaring she would miss him terribly. Link would not miss mending the waste pit door.

Zelda employed every rumor she had against the men. Each name her father brought up, to see what she thought of them, she replied with scuttlebutt.

"I heard he has a mistress who he impregnated and refuses to marry."

"He is thought to not care much for women."

"There is a rumor he cannot hold his alcohol very well, and imbibes incessantly."

And so on. She felt dirty doing it, but she was in a frenzy to have Link close again, someone she could recognize and relate to.

The king sighed and looked at her over his glasses. "And this… Link Tolrose."

Zelda thought for a few minutes, biting her lower lip. "To be honest, I have not heard much of him. He is soft-spoken, to be sure, but… his family is a new money situation; they're very small yet. But he has a few older brothers, so it is not as if he will be missed from their lineage."

She would have to tell him this all at some point later, to keep up the lie.

The king shook his head; Zelda had gotten her way, as was expected. "I suppose that leaves me with only one decision."

Link's mouth gaped open when he was announced as her guard. He didn't actually expect for his plan to work; and that it had was a blessing. He closed it right quick again, catching Zelda's eye. She smiled.

In a fortnight, he was moved into the castle (what belongings?) and he took the oath to protect the princess in her entirety from all manner of swords (it was an ancient oath, wrapped in flowery language, but the undertones of protecting her virtue were not unknown). He was given clothes of such finery that he did not even know that such fabrics existed; thickly woven satins, light airy cotton shirts, heavy leather boots and belts. It was beyond the best clothes he'd ever had.

The guards taught him some of the basics of sword-fighting, not that he cared, as he had it all down pat. It was not like his travels were spent floating around at the beach near Lake Hylia; he actually learned some things, too.

But someone forgot to mention that balls were a required part of a princess' heritage. Link could not dance.

-

He followed Zelda around the racks of bolts of fine cloth, heavy damask silks hand-embroidered with intricate patterns of gold against cream, shades of blue, rose and pink, even a few odd ones like mint with pink or yellow with brown. His feet were already sore, and she'd been waffling for over an hour about whether or not the red would bring out her pink undertones more, or the blue would be better for her eyes.

Though he'd thought about storming off once or twice, Link was still under very strict observation, and would be for another four or so months. Even now, he could sense the guards watching him around the walls of the massive fabric shop. He was just to guard Zelda, they were just to guard him. She stopped in front of a deep purple brocade with a biased weave, creating a swirling filigree pattern through the fabric. Link thought it was hideous, and shuddered when he remembered he'd have to wear a matching outfit.

"Zelda," he whispered, leaning close.

"You have to call me 'Your Highness', Link," she replied in just as low of a whisper.

"Your Highness," he whispered, a little louder. "That purple is the ugliest damned thing I've ever seen."

Zelda giggled and put one hand to her mouth, trying to hide from the curious and worried fabricians. "It is pretty bad, isn't it," she murmured back to him.

"I liked the green," he added. "The dark one with the gold trim."

"You always wear green."

"It's my favorite color."

"Well it's not mine."

They looked around and stepped apart a little, as the guards were becoming very interested in their argument. After all, what good was a guard for the princess if they couldn't even talk?

Link sighed and looked around, spying another one he thought was nice. "What about the blue?"

She turned and looked as well. "It's a wintery blue."

"But you were thinking about blue."

"Yes, but the blue I'm thinking about is a light, spring blue. That is an ice blue."

Link raised an eyebrow. What the hell was the difference?

He wandered, but not too far, barely a meter away from her. She was chewing her thumbnail as she walked along the rows. The entire shop was dead silent, the fabricians holding their breath. Though Zelda and her father were known for their benevolence, they worried all the same about appeasing the royalty.

Link closed his eyes and grabbed a bolt at random. The fabric was silky and rough under his hand, and when he opened them again he found he'd grabbed a deep blue brocade, with an alternating weave creating a subtle pattern of thin stripes. "Hey Z… uh, Your Highness, what do you think of this fabric?"

She turned and looked it over. "Ooh." Right away, as she got close, he could see how it brought out her eyes. "It's a little dark, but muted against a cream with a similar pattern might not be too bad…" She turned to seek out one of the fabricians.

One rushed over when she noticed, bowing. "Have you found a style that appeals to you?"

"Yes, this blue. Do you have a cream with a similar…?"

"Yes, Your Highness." The fabrician took the bolt from her hands and bowed.

A second one approached them, wearing a flexible measuring tape around her shoulders. "Please, come with me for the fitting."

Link watched as the collection of guards around them followed along, like an entourage. Zelda was led first behind a curtain into a large room.

"Are those the underpinnings you will be wearing?" the measuring woman asked.

"Yes," Zelda replied. There was the rustle of fabric, Link standing with his back to the cloth partition, the other guards standing in a half circle around it.

One of them smirked at Link. "You're not gonna go in there with her?"

The others made quiet snickering noises.

"It's inappropriate, ain't it?" Link shifted nervously. Was he supposed to go in there with her? He knew he wasn't supposed to be in her chambers or to follow her into the washroom, but this was sort of in between, wasn't it?

The guards shrugged, grinning at each other. "You took the oath, not us."

Link hesitated, though he did shift nervously from foot to foot, weighing it out. If he didn't go in, he would defend himself that he was unsure if it was appropriate. But finally, Zelda emerged from the back room, dressed again.

"It's your turn, sir," the measuring woman spoke, tugging on Link's sleeve. Link followed her in. The room had a wide, open space with a small pedestal, just big enough to stand on. Around the edges was a collection of dress mannequins and half-used bolts of fabric with labels written on yellowed paper, names and dates and sizes and styles.

The woman measured him quickly over his clothes, around the waist and chest, down the outside of his leg, his arms, his shoulders, around his neck, even his inseam, giving him a little bump and muttering, with a blush, "excuse _me,_ sir!"

She shooed him off as quickly as she'd measured, and Link nearly bumped into Zelda as he pulled aside the curtain and walked out. "Agh, sorry." He stepped to one side, gesturing for her to move on ahead, careful not to touch her. He didn't want it to seem like they were… intimate. Connected, somehow (even though they were, in ways that the guards wouldn't understand and write off as religious haberdashery).

Zelda smiled quickly at Link and looked around at the guards, who tried to keep a semi-serious disposition. "Well, gentlemen, shall we return to the castle?" They snapped to attention behind the princess and her escort, the fabricians thanking her profusely for her visit to their shop and bowing.

Zelda tilted her head close to Link, muttering to him under her breath. "I want to lose the puppets, don't you?"

"Yes," was his eager reply. He was sick of having to hold himself so tense every second around Zelda, and they hadn't had a chance to talk about the last seven or so years once.

She smiled. "We'll think of something." Zelda added a wink, and for a solitary second, Link thought of grabbing her and kissing her. He moved away a half-step to the side, and kept his hands behind his back, his sword clanking at his hip. Being her guard would be more trouble than he thought.

-

Link looked around as they sat down to dinner. Even though they'd been dining in the same place for a few months, it still gave him the chills to look around it, to still see it as a ruin of charred stone and demonic creatures prowling around. He looked at Zelda and wondered how she could stand it; maybe because she had stronger memories of the proper castle interior, having lived here for so long. His place was on Zelda's right side, but because of the limited space he sat at the corner, so he wasn't right next to her. But at least this way, he could see her face easier without having to be right next to her. The king sat on the other side of Zelda, and Link could see his face just as easily. He contented himself by spooning up some of the soup, the first course set before them.

"So now, Guard Tolrose." Link stared when he realized the king was talking to him, having forgotten, for a minute, his 'last name'.

"Ah, yes, Your Majesty?"

"How did your father become a viscount?"

Oh shit. Link glanced quickly at Zelda, his soup spoon frozen an inch above the bowl. "Uh, well, he worked very hard, Your Majesty, saving up the money over some time to buy an estate. Along with that and uh, my… grandfather's death, he collected a great sum of money, and he was able to purchase a small area of land and build a house upon it."

"And you have how many brothers?"

Link looked again at Zelda; the king was not looking at him, but at his bowl of soup, still able to listen as he ate. Zelda surreptitiously lifted three of the fingers around her soup spoon, careful not to drop it.

"I have three, Your Majesty. All married, of which I am the youngest. My oldest brother has already been selected to take over the viscounty."

The king nodded. "Very good." He seemed satisfied with this shortened interrogation, and Link resumed eating, Zelda having nodded and smiled at him.

The worst part about court life, he was finding, was keeping up with the lies he made up; even though they weren't a stretch. People always looked at him funny; no one had heard of a Viscount Tolrose. But at the same time, they were almost as low as society could go, as well as new money; so what did they mind? The family would take time to come to court. Women expressed interest in him with their eyes; he was fresh blood in the court. Link chattered with them only a little, he was uncomfortable around them. There was an undertone to their conversation that wasn't entirely innocent.

As he was constantly at Zelda's side, she was privy to all the same conversations. She kept up laughter with the not so innocent questions, feigning complete lack of interest in what or who Link did once she was married off. But in the end, she cut the conversations short with a dismissive turn of her head, walking away to join another discussion, between older men of the court, retired war generals, who spoke of the glory days of their command. Link never really noticed how cold this was; he figured that was how conversation went.

-

As the ball drew closer, Link found they were left with fewer guards, until there was only one. The one guard was bored, and frequently ignored them to read a book; a smutty sex book tucked carefully inside of a historical study of war strategem. He followed them at a lacksidasical rate as they spent one day wandering the maze-like gardens around the castle.

Zelda looked back, walking only a few steps ahead of Link. They'd rounded a corner, and it seemed that their chaperone had no great interest in following. Zelda put a finger to her lips to keep Link quiet and ducked down, pulling him with her by the hand and tugging him along, creeping through the maze to the next clearing.

It was a wide circular space, with radial paths off into the maze surrounding them. They settled down on one of the hard stone benches set in a circle in the center of the space. "Finally!" she sighed with relief. "Now; I haven't seen you in over seven years. Tell me what has happened to you in that time." Zelda combed some of her hair out of her face and smiled at Link, eager to listen.

Link scooted back a little ways to look into her face, trying to think of where he should begin. "Well… I explored outside of Hyrule, mostly. Termina and such. I headed further south to the other countries for a year, um…" The version of his stories he gave her were sanitized; the real accounts of slaying enormous beasts trying to ruin entire countries were the sort he kept around for free drinks at the local bars. As long as someone was buying, he had a story to tell, and it always worked.

"But you, what about you?"

Zelda tilted her head to one side. "Well, here at the castle, it was as if Ganondorf suddenly went missing. He could not be found. After a month he was finally declared legally deceased, and Father had to choose a new ambassador. He actually ended up selecting Nabooru, which I think was something she was very proud of. And it has worked out remarkably well. I am very comforted by the sight of my people having good lives, and never knowing of the horrors that almost befell them." She grew stoic, thinking about it, and Link thought of leaning forward and kissing her mouth, to see what she would do.

Instead, he looked back and saw their chaperone huffing his way towards them, having suddenly realized the two had snuck off. He looked much relieved to find that they were sitting some distance apart and still fully clothed. Zelda stood abruptly from the bench, forcing Link to stand as well. "I think it is time for tea, don't you, gentlemen?"

"Yes, Your Highness," they both answered, a beat slow. Zelda led them back into the castle, her nose in the air.

Link would take his tea in his own rooms, as a break from being around the princess for so long. He wanted to think, anyway. Gain better control over himself; he just missed her, was all. He was just glad to see someone that he knew. Any action he took would be inappropriate.

Zelda sat with the windows wide open to her tower room, sipping her tea a little at a time, staring out into the blue sky. Never had she been so happy that she was relatively spoiled by her father; she knew she was going to have Link back at her side the second she saw him. Just knowing that he was still out there, that he was back, safe and sound inside of the castle, made her rest easier at night. At night…

Well. He wasn't permitted into her rooms. But he was the one who walked her to her rooms at the end of the night, bowing to her stiffly and wishing her a good rest. And a few times, she'd caught an unfamiliar gaze in his eyes, a look of longing. She abruptly clanked her teacup down, breathing in sharply.

Link was becoming affectionate of her! She was sure of it! She blushed, feeling flattered, but then the reality of the situation swung in. If he was caught trying to make a move on her, he could lose his position, and even his head, depending on how misinterpreted it was. She gathered paper and a quill from her writing desk, quickly scratching out a note to be sent to him.

It was a simple note, a notice that she wished to take lunch outside in the gardens tomorrow, and would he be so kind as to attend to her? She folded it up and sealed it, writing his name in a flowing script on the opposite side. After a moment's hesitation, she added his 'last name'. They had better start acting as if it was real.


	2. Chapter 2

That next day though, their lunch was postponed. Their attire for the ball, only a week away now, was ready, and they had to go in and check to see if the fit was right. No guards followed them this time; it was just the two of them, walking through the crowd. Zelda looked over at Link. He stared ahead in relaxed silence, one hand resting across the pommel of his sword, the other hanging down straight. She looked at their intended path again, opening her mouth to talk to him. But at another glance, and the hordes of people who noticed them, bowed to them; she closed her mouth again. It was far too open of a place to talk about something that could get Link into so much trouble. She wouldn't risk his beheading.

They entered the dress shop, Link opening the door for Zelda. The fabricians clapped and bowed to the princess, ushering them both into the back. "We think you will find the dress exquisite, Your Highness." Link followed them, their pace so fast he had to jog to keep up. The fabricians threw back the curtain to the fitting room with a flourish, revealing two headless people! On second glance, though, Link could see now that they were dress forms, wearing the very outfits he and Zelda were to wear.

Zelda's dress was in two pieces; a cream under dress with a flat neckline, barely above the dress form's bust. It billowed into a full skirt with a ruffle along the bottom hem, the gathering line of the ruffle studded with tiny, blue glass pearls. The overdress had a square neckline, lacing tightly over the bust and fitted to the waist. It had full sleeves that ended just before her elbow to flare in a massive ruffle, with a layer of the cream fabric just underneath, doing the same. The edges of the overdress were studded with cream pearls as a contrast.

Link's outfit was not as bad as he had feared. It was an elegant swallowtail coat with a fitted vest in the same deep blue fabric underneath, the material of the vest cut so that the thin stripes pointed inward in a downward diagonal. The sleeves went to the wrist, cuffed, and were trimmed at the edge with more of the cream pearls. It had lapels in more of the blue, and edged with more pearls. He noticed that they didn't seem to use the material they had for Zelda's underdress hardly at all, beyond a simple pair of detachable wrist cuffs (that would flop over his hands like useless decoration and irritate him the whole damn night) and a simple, elegant cravat. Instead, it was paired with bleached deerskin breeches, and black square-toed shoes with a functionless silver buckle. Link wrinkled his nose and wondered if Zelda would be terribly offended if he wore his own knee-high black boots instead of those… things.

Zelda clapped her hands in joy, beside herself with excitement. One of the fabricians led her over to a desk with a small chest on it, opening it and showing her some other frilly thing. Link looked at the other fabrician, a kindly old woman with long grey hair and a collection of laugh lines around her mouth and eyes. "Would you like to try the outfit on, good sir?"

Zelda was ushered out by the other fabrician to talk about the other accessories she would need for her dress, and the old woman closed the curtain behind them. Link shuffled from foot to foot as he undressed, getting down to his breeches and undershirt.

"No, no, those too; you have new ones you must make sure fit, yes?"

Link rolled his eyes and pulled off his breeches, tugging down his undershirt so that it would cover his underpinnings, little more than a thin roll of clean white fabric, loosely wrapped around his hips and underneath. He could swear the fabrician was taking her time getting the new breeches he was to wear, a grin on her face.

"Would you like my help, sir?"

"I'm a grown man, good lady, that won't be necessary!" he replied in an urgent tone, taking the breeches and putting them on.

"Yes, yes, I can see that."

He glared at her, embarrassed, and pulled them on, fastening them quickly. They were comfortable, a little roomy, even. The fabrician smiled and handed him each next piece, helping him to tie the cravat and the flouncy wrist cuffs. He immediately decided he hated them and would not be wearing them. The shoes were ridiculous, especially with his hairy legs and lack of stockings. He wouldn't be wearing those, either.

"Are you ready?" called the other woman from the opposite side of the curtain.

"Oh yes!" replied Link's helper.

They stepped in together, Zelda looking excited about something; mostly the shoes she had picked out in a matching blue with more cream pearl details and a choker. Link caught her eye and she stopped, her eyes widening in amazement. He waved his arms in the air, shrugging. "What do you think?"

Zelda was not completely oblivious to Link's good looks, even when he was dressed down. She could appreciate him and his physical traits. But this was on a different level; here, he looked like a gentleman, like the noble he pretended to be. He smiled at her, a bit uncomfortable and unsure of her gaze. "Um…" she added, looking away. "I think it looks good on you."

Link nodded, looking down at himself and feeling a little more comfortable in the suit. Zelda was ushered out while he changed, and when he was done and left the room, she was taken back in to try on her own dress. It took a long while; he distracted himself by looking around at the rolls of heavy fabric nearby.

"Here she is!" cried the fabrician, pulling back the curtain. The dress form had not done justice to the dress compared to now that it was on her. Link nodded, a lump in his throat. Zelda smiled at him, touching the blue ribbon choker around her neck nervously. Link put his hands to his pockets, looking down at his shoes. "Lovely, lovely," the fabrician murmured, taking her back into the room to fix her in her proper clothing. Link had a hard time looking Zelda in the eye when she came back out, even in her regular clothing. She paid the fabricians for the elegant clothing, agreeing that they would do the final touches on the sizes of everything and send the clothes to the castle upon finishing, as well as the shoes and the other minimal accessories.

As they walked back to the castle along the main route, Link found he could control his voice again. "You know, I was wondering… my uh, observation crew seems to have plummeted quickly."

Zelda smiled a bit, reaching and threading her arm neatly through his own, pulling him a little closer. "Oh… well, we'll still at least have one guard around. But really, the six month period is just a formality. It rarely goes on that long."

"Isn't that dangerous, though? I mean, there's still plenty o' time…" He didn't finish the thought, and Zelda was lost in thought for a few minutes. He wished he hadn't brought it up that way.

"Well," she started. "I think Father has seen, in our interactions and your hesitance to… sneak in my rooms at night, that you are far more trustworthy than most men. There's a goodness in you that is easy to believe in."

Link looked at Zelda. She was looking at him, with an expression that was almost a little sad. "Ah." He couldn't think of anything better to say.

When they returned to the castle, it was quite late for lunch, but too early for tea. Zelda had the kitchens combine the two, and they were followed out into the garden maze by two guards and three of the cooks, their meal consisting of sandwiches made with cold beef from the previous night's dinner, sliced apples, hunks of hard, bitter cheese and thin, flat bread, hot and cold teas, lemon slices, sugar, and a small carafe of milk, and even two petite cakes for dessert. There were many such spots to lunch in around the gardens; they chose a clearing with a table and comfortable wicker chairs. Zelda waited, saying nothing as the food was set out, a plate before both of them, looking off into the distance. The servants bowed and departed, and the guards ambled about, one back in his book and the other smoking a rolled cigarette.

Link poured them both tea, having cold for himself. It was help to cool all of him, or so he hoped. Zelda smiled at him and thanked him, adding sugar to her tea with a splash of milk. As they ate, Link cleared his throat and looked up.

Zelda glanced at the guards, who were a distance away and not paying any attention. She nodded Link on.

"Those shoes… um, that I was wearing. I thought that… I'd rather not wear those."

Zelda set down her cup very slowly, eyeing him. "Oh?"

"Well, to be honest with you, I thought they made me look stupid. I've a pair of boots I'd much rather wear."

Zelda sighed. "But Link, that's not the style."

"So?"

"That's the whole point! We have to look good!"

"I think I'll look fine in my boots, thank you."

Zelda rolled her eyes and shook her head, drinking some of her tea and avoiding speaking to him. Link looked at her, wondering if she was actually mad. He could see out of the corner of his eye that she was grinning a little, though.

"We'll have to try that outfit on and see. That way, you can also get another look at your sweetheart." Zelda smirked, looking at him out of the corner of one eye.

"What?!" Link nearly dropped his teacup.

"Oh, you didn't notice? I thought that old lady was going to hold you hostage right there in the shop, that I would have to pay a ransom to get you back."

Link shook his head, picking up a sandwich and taking a bite. "And I'd be worth the price to you?"

He thought he was teasing her, but she only smiled and said, "Of course. You'd be worth any price."

He looked at her in confusion, but she was drinking her tea and did not seem willing to elaborate.

They ate in silence a little longer. When Link retrieved their dessert cakes though, he realized that, with the ball in only a week, he'd best confess himself to her.

"So, I assume at this ball, there will be uh, merriment and dancing." He looked across the table at her.

Zelda nodded with a smile, her fork in hand, the cake still untouched. "Yes, quite a good deal of it."

"Well," he started. "I… don't know how."

"How what?"

"To dance."

Zelda laughed, covering her mouth with one hand. "Are you serious?"

Link squirmed in his seat, and she laughed again.

"It's not bloody funny!" he cried, looking round at the guards who glanced back, shaking their heads and returning to their own tasks.

"On the opposite, I think it is! Link, dancing is easy! Don't you do a sort of dance when you…" She mimed sword-fighting, and it was Link's turn to laugh a little at the face she made.

"Yes, I suppose, but fancy ball dancing is a lot different. For one, I think there would be some problems if I just whipped it out on the floor." The guards looked up at that, raising their eyebrows. Zelda blushed and covered her mouth with one hand to hide her giggles, Link shouting at the guards, "No, no, not like that! I meant my sword! … damn it, that doesn't sound good either." Zelda laughed harder, tears in her eyes as she covered her face with her hands. Link shook his head and sighed heavily.

"Look," Zelda said softly, leaning close. "I'll ask someone to teach you. Would that offend you? It's actually quite common that… that men don't know how to dance."

"Can I really learn in a week, though?"

Zelda rolled her eyes. "You're the same man who learned how to best save the world in seven years in his sleep; I think dancing won't be much of a stretch."

-

Even after their food was gone, they spent some time out in the gardens. Rapidly, it was becoming Link's favorite place. There was no ceiling over his head, and the green surrounding him on all sides made him feel like he was back in the forest, a place he'd missed dearly. Their conversation tapered off; they'd been spending the past two months together almost constantly, what could they say? Even after the seven years of separation, it was like picking back up where they'd left off.

The ladies of the court had noticed, and though inappropriate behavior was rife in the rupee dreadful novels that they all read and pretended to be above, it was rarely something that actually happened. They whispered about it constantly to each other. Was there something going on between the two of them? They only stopped their whispers when Zelda was around, so even she heard of them through her own maids, her network of rumormongers. They embarrassed her; there was nothing between herself and Link! Not yet, anyway. Seeing him transformed in that outfit had opened her eyes; Link wasn't a child anymore, and neither was she. For once in her life, Zelda hoped her father would find someone for her to marry, and soon.

The day after the late lunch, Link was summoned to the royal ballroom for his first dancing lesson. He entered the massive room and looked around. The floors were a highly polished wood, with soft cream walls and a few paintings to break up the monotony. There was a large set of bay windows on the opposite wall to the door, leading out to a patio. From the ceiling hung a few massive chandeliers, all clear glass shards and candle holders. Several people stood in the hall, waiting for him. The tallest woman, also the oldest, smiled at him kindly. She was dressed in fitted black cotton, her hair back in a severe bun. "Good day, Master Tolrose. I am told that we are to enhance your dancing skill."

Link cracked a grin. "To be honest with you, I don't know if I've much dancing skill at all."

The teacher relaxed; here she was not dealing with a stuffy noble, who required constant coddling that they were _already_ the best at dancing. "Well, I'm sure it's in there somewhere. My name is Madame Curieire." Link bowed his head to her, looking around at the small group with her; a few women and men. Madame Curieire clapped her hands twice and one of the girls, a wisp of a thing with dark hair back in a ponytail, ran as light as air to a small gramophone set up in the room. She started the record on a volume high enough to hear but low enough so that Madame Curieire did not have to shout.

"First lesson."

The students lined up, women across from men, and bowed to each other. Link faced the girl that had started the gramophone, and she nodded solemnly to him. He watched, a beat behind as all stepped towards each other, lifting their right hands and putting the palms together, going around in a circle before switching hands, then doing what Link would later describe as a 'stupid twirly thing', before doing the hand thing again in the opposite direction.

Each clap of her hands signified a change in partners. Link stumbled and looked around in confusion for the first half hour of the lesson, but the students helped to guide him. Hand thing, other hand thing, stupid twirly thing, hand thing in other direction, other hand thing, switch with the free hand to the next partner.

They only worked for an hour, and Link still didn't completely understand what was going on. Madame clapped once, sharply, and though Link figured it was time for a partner change, he stopped cold when he realized the students had parted and stood in lines again. He was left the odd duck out at the end of the line, out of sync. Madame smiled and nodded, and the same girl as before flew across the room and stopped the old, crinkly record. "Not bad. Not terrible, but not perfect. You will learn."

"Uh, thank you, I guess." She raised a fierce eyebrow at him, but ushered her students away. They quickly packed up the gramophone, and all left the large room.

Zelda was waiting down the hall from the ballroom, holding an open book in her lap but not actually reading. She looked up when she saw Link and smiled. "How was it?"

"Well, it uh… dancing seems kind of boring, actually."

Zelda laughed in surprise.

"Well! All we did was a… like one dance, a hand thing and a stupid twirly thing."

"That?" she replied, surprised again. "That dance is ancient! No wonder you were bored! They get a lot more interesting than that, I assure you."

"I can hardly wait," he replied with sarcasm, grinning at her. They looked at each other a beat too long, and Zelda looked away, standing up.

"Well, here's hoping you learn something new in a week," she said coolly, smiling at him and walking away.

Link was confused. "Have I offended you?" he asked, catching up to her in quick steps.

"What? No, not at all."

"You just seem… distant." He tilted his head at her.

Zelda shrugged. "It's nothing, really." She smiled reassuringly at him.

"Nervous for the dance or somethin'? If you want I'll just sit in a corner and scowl."

Zelda shook her head. "I told you, it's nothing! Don't worry about it."

Link let her trail on ahead for a few feet, wandering along behind her. She slowed to a stop when she was nearly to her rooms, looking around, then at him. There wasn't anyone around them at the moment. "Hey," she said softly.

He waited for her to finish her thought.

"If you want, I'll help you get ahead in lessons later. We could… meet in the ballroom after dinner and practice?"

"Um, sure, sure. That'd be fine."

She nodded once and smiled. "I think I'm going to go up to my rooms for a little while. I'll see you at dinner."

Link watched her vanish up the spiraling stairs, feeling a bit disheartened. He frowned and headed back to his own rooms, thinking all the way. But he could not think of what he'd done to offend her.

-

Zelda was not offended at all. Link had honestly done nothing. She'd just found herself whirling into that sinkhole of desire again, eager to lean over and kiss him. She was planning, at lunch, to tell him that she suspected he was harboring romantic attachment to her, and that he'd better stop it before things got out of hand for the both of them, because he could lose his head for it. But now it was a hypocritical gesture, as her own romantic feelings for him had rapidly blossomed forth, and she did not know if she was capable of fighting them off.

As she sat in her rooms, staring at an open book without reading it, she wondered if it'd really begun when he put on that outfit, or if it was something she'd been feeling before then. The thump of her heart when she recognized him while interviewing candidates… She bit at one thumbnail, lingering over her thoughts in a dream state.

But at least she'd been honest; she really did want to help him advance a little faster in dancing. And a guard or two would probably follow them out, so they would not be able to do anything… scandalous anyway. She was thankful for that, and finally turned to her book, intent on actually reading it for now.


	3. Chapter 3

Zelda paced nervously around the ballroom. It was a half hour after dinner, and she'd only been waiting ten or so minutes in the room, in comfortable slippers and a loose gown over her underpinnings. She tapped one foot, her arms folded, her head shooting up when she heard the door open. Link walked in and gave her a half-hearted wave, looking back. Two guards followed him in, looking a little more serious about their duties than before. Perhaps they'd gotten a dressing down by the king. The guards stood at either side of the door. Link looked around the room, but there was no gramophone this time, just Zelda standing in the center. She nodded to him in greeting. "Can you show me what you learned?"

"I can try," he replied, walking up. He was still in his day clothes, tanned breeches and a green (always green) cropped vest over a white shirt with full sleeves. They fit far better than the ancient digs he first appeared in, thought he didn't always look so comfortable in them.

There was no music, so they made due. Link's focus alternated between his feet and the floor. A few times, he made eye contact with Zelda. She would nod, encouraging him, keeping her gaze down. They practiced the loops three times, although Link could not change partners; the guards didn't seem willing to help. Without the strict eye of the Madame over his head, it was easier for Link to practice.

"Should we try another dance?" Zelda asked him softly.

"That's the only one I learned," he confessed in a low voice.

"It never hurts to try."

"Okay." Zelda stepped back, across from him, and curtsied; he bowed. "Now, step forward." As she spoke the steps, she illustrated them herself, Link following. "Lift your right hand." They clasped hands and walked around in another circle, Zelda watching the ground. Once they'd made a full circle, Zelda stopped. "This is where you would switch off with your left hand to a new partner-" she demonstrated alone, making another half circle, "and then a switch with your right hand to the next partner."

"What do you do at the end?"

"Everyone bows," Zelda spoke as she moved through the easy steps, "and it starts over."

Link wrinkled his nose. "These dances are all kinda similar."

"Well…" Zelda tilted her head. "They… not really, I mean; this one your hand's always in the air and there's no twirling…"

"But it's still just going around in a circle."

"Well those are the easy dances!" She spread her hands, looking at him in exasperation.

Link frowned and folded his arms. "Give me a hard one, then!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Zelda stood across from him once more, stomping all the way. "Bow," she commanded.

The guards were very amused. There was a bet going on in the barracks about who would quit first; if Zelda would declare him an unfit guard, or if Link would declare that he was sick of chasing someone so spoiled. "I'm thinking the bet should change," one whispered to the other. "It might happen a lot sooner than we think, at this rate."

Link glared but bowed. Zelda was to tell him nothing about the dance this time; instead, she walked forward three steps, putting her right hand up. Link put his hand to hers; she quickly curtsied and stepped back, taking an invisible dancer's hand on the left, her back to Link. She walked around in a circle, arm still outstretched, and walked forward again, curtsying with the hand up to another invisible person, deliberately ignoring him. Link stood and watched, trying to trace each step. Instead of walking back again though, she walked again in a half-circle, spinning, switching hands and doing another half-circle before sticking her hand out in Link's direction. He reached out, and she spun him around, walking in the half-circle, spinning, walking him back around, and starting it over.

Link wobbled, uneven on his feet. "Wait, how did that go?"

She ignored him, still going through all the practiced steps, her eyes narrowed. "I thought they were all the same!" she called in reply, a ways away.

"Oh come on," he shouted back, "I'm new at this!"

"Pay more attention!"

So he watched her. He was going to get this wrong anyway, he had no doubt about that. But she moved gracefully over the polished floor, light on her feet.

She reached the end of her imaginary line and stopped, looking at him. "Got it?" There was a grin stretched across her face as Link shook his head reluctantly. "Well, it is a difficult dance, you might not even learn it until the actual day of the ball."

Zelda sighed and smoothed her hair back from her face, walking back over to him. "I think that is enough for one night, don't you? Walk me to my rooms."

"Yes, Your Highness."

She wound her arm through his, lifting her chin. The guards opened the doors for them, following along for a few minutes until they headed down the hall to Zelda's rooms' staircase. After all, they had a bet to change. Zelda pulled her arm from Link's, looking at him with a faint smile. "I will see you tomorrow for lunch, after lessons?"

"Certainly."

She extended her left hand to him, waiting with the other on her hip. Link raised one eyebrow but took it, kissing over her knuckles very lightly. "Good night, Your Highness," he murmured against her skin, dropping her hand and straightening.

She watched him walk down the hall, back to his own rooms, and shook her head when he was out of sight. "I can't trust myself around him."

-

Madame Curieire looked satisfied that Link had caught on quickly to the first dance. After only a few minutes of practicing, she clapped her hands sharply, and everyone stopped, Link again left hanging in the middle. "Very good," she called. "Now for the next dance." He waited as Madame changed the music to a slower song, and approached his partner, the same girl with the dark hair.

She barely flicked a smile at him, curtsying before taking his hands. She put one on her hip and held the other one with her own, her fingers cold and her grip near undetectable. It seemed she had no desire to be there at all. She started leading him, slowly. They went straight back, doing a slow spin to the left and heading straight the other way.

"Doing this for a lady friend?" she asked quietly, staring at Link's throat.

"Uh, I'm escorting the princess to a ball in a few days."

"Oh. Does she know you can't dance?"

Link frowned. Was he supposed to feel insulted? "She set up these lessons for me, so yeah."

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Let's hope she isn't disappointed, then."

Her tone was flat and bored, and now Link was wondering if he'd met her somewhere before and offended her on accident. He was careful of her toes, but also had to be careful of keeping up with the rest of the dancers. She made a point of holding him apart from her body with the length of their arms, not so much resting her hand there but using it to brace him and keep him from moving in closer.

"It is all about posture," Madame spoke suddenly, right behind him.

"Shit!" he gasped, jumping and turning around to stare at her. She narrowed her eyes, but continued speaking.

"A straight pose, shoulders back, does wonders for dancing. It makes you look more confident, and you pass that confidence on to your dancing partner." She looked the two of them over and clapped her hands together, sharply. "New song!"

-

They practiced longer than the day before. Link's feet actually hurt a bit, and he had, inevitably, ended up stepping on the girl's toes. She flinched and brushed it off quickly, shrugging away his apologies. Madame was amused, but did not express it out loud.

Zelda had been waiting patiently for an hour. If someone had not told her what was taking him so long (in this case, it was one of the guards), she would have been fuming with anger. As it was, she could not fault him for staying late. When she saw him leaving the room, she was already prepared with a cold lunch (it wasn't intended to be that, but now they were stuck with it) in a basket.

"Long day today?" she teased him.

"Yeah, definitely," he replied. "I uh, accidentally stepped on a girl's foot."

Zelda smiled behind one hand. "Well; I bet you're famished after all that work. Let us go outside."

He kept back, following along behind her, but Zelda reached back and grabbed his arm, putting hers around his elbow. She'd started doing that lately, and Link wasn't sure if it was how it was supposed to go or not. She hadn't wanted to do that at first. He licked his lips, trying to think of something to say. "She taught me different dances than the ones you did."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, there's one where it's… it's pretty easy."

"Well, that's good."

"If you wanted to, I'd like to practice more, later."

Zelda nodded. "If it helps you, certainly."

They sat down at the same table as the day before, maids again setting out their food. Zelda spread some smoked fish onto a thin cracker and ate, staring into the distance.

"So… when and where is this ball?" Link finally asked her.

She looked back at him, waiting until she had swallowed. "It's about an hour's travel from this castle, a duchy to the south, Eldiday night. The duke throwing it is known for having great parties."

"Oh. Is… this the first party you've gone to of his?"

"The first without my father, at least." She smiled and went back to her lunch, rather hungry.

Link let their conversation stagnate, turning back to his own lunch. It was delicious, even cold. Fresh tea and sandwiches, chilled fruit (so at least that was supposed to be cold), more things of that nature. He never went hungry in the castle, and was actually thinking he was putting on weight. Maybe he would have to inquire about training with the knights in early mornings so that he had something to do.

But castle life, for all its faults of being somewhat sleepy and dull, had its advantages. His massive bed, made with scented sheets every day, was a sharp contrast to sleeping under the stars in a field, waking up soaked in rainwater and sinking into a massive mud puddle, all stringy muscle and bones. The only thing that truly annoyed him about the castle was the sometimes itchy clothes and the absolute requirement that he wash every day. In his opinion, he could easily go a week without needing to wash. And yet every morning, before breakfast, two maids would haul up a tub of warm water with fresh soap and cloth, waking him up and dragging him over, stripping him as he went.

The first day this occurred, he forgot where he was and actually fought back, giving one of the girls a black eye and the other a bruised rib. After that, far stronger women were sent to his rooms, frowning no-nonsense types with muscled arms and red faces, two women who usually were midwives, and used to having to restrain screaming women in labor, not heroes of time still trapped in dreamland (Link was easier). It earned him a whispered nickname among the employees of the castle, "Bruiser". Zelda knew this, and it felt odd to her that someone who was so shy and quiet on the outside could be such a fierce warrior, even knowing of his past exploits. She watched his hands as she sipped her tea, looking at their chipped nails and the veins like twine. But he was so gentle, that was the thing she didn't expect.

She snapped out of it, realizing she was still holding her teacup to her mouth without actually drinking. She set it down on the saucer and went back to her sandwiches, silent.

"Did you… want to practice the steps after lunch?" Zelda asked quite suddenly, her head tilted to the side.

"Hm?" Well, what else was there to do? "Probably a good idea; that way I got it all fresher in my mind."

When they finished, two maids packed up the dirtied dishes and leftover food. They walked together (with two guards in tow) to the ballroom. Zelda took off her silk shoes, walking to the center of the room barefoot.

"Should I take off mine as well, to spare your toes?" Link asked her, cracking a grin.

Zelda laughed too. "I've seen your hairy legs, I think I can risk my feet."

She shook out her skirts and Link walked up to her. "They uh, they didn't teach me the dances you did."

"Oh no? What, did you learn harder ones?" She laughed a little, her giggles subsiding when Link took her hands and positioned them how he was shown. Oh no. Her heart jumped in her throat, and Zelda stared down at their feet, as did Link, careful of her skirt and toes.

They danced as they had the night before, with no music. Zelda listened to Link's deep breath, and even thought she heard him whispering, counting under his breath. She glanced over at the guards, who, after a day of properly doing their duty, had resumed a relaxed approach once more. "Link," she whispered as quietly as she could. "I have to warn you of something."

Link's ears twitched and his face shot up, his eyes intense and focused as they stared into hers. His steps slowed down to a stop. "What is it?" he whispered back.

"If… you're harboring any romantic feelings for me, then I warn you now that you should… stop."

Wait, wasn't he just showing her that he knew how to dance now?

"Zelda, it's nothing like that," he whispered back, although it totally was. "I think of you as a friend, an aquaintance." He was lying again to protect himself, his heart thumping as he stared into her eyes. He wanted to kiss her, take her face in his hands and kiss her, guards be damned.

Zelda looked into his eyes. "Link. Don't lie to me. If you are suspected of any romantic inclinations towards me, you will be beheaded."

Link lifted his chin and frowned, averting his gaze. "So," he said now in a clear voice, and it made Zelda jump a little. "That's pretty much all I learned today." He let go of her hands and stepped back out of her grasp.

Zelda looked at him, and then away. "Well, it seems you might actually be prepared for the ball after all." She folded her arms over her chest, nodding to the guards that they were ready to leave. They opened the doors and Zelda led the way out, keeping a few feet in front of Link. Once more, they stopped at the staircase to her rooms. "I shall see you for dinner. Take care." She averted her eyes and walked up the staircase briskly. Link looked after her, before turning and going to his own rooms, frustrated.

Zelda stomped up to her room and flung herself onto her bed. Even though she was eighteen, she still felt very much like a child sometimes. It wasn't fair! She had to keep pushing him away, to protect him, even if it broke his heart! She just wanted to sit down with him somewhere private and talk to him, kiss him. She closed her eyes and pressed her face into a pillow. As long as they held out for another month at the most, then no longer would they be followed by guards, and… maybe their lunches together wouldn't be so quiet. She thought of writing him a letter, telling him that she felt the same way, but the servants around here were curious creatures. It would be far too risky. She would just have to tell him at the ball.

Zelda's eyes brightened when she remembered. The guards would be in the carriage on the way there and back, of course, but while there, it would be a wild place of drinking and dancing. The younger crowd sneaking off for a few hasty kisses (or more) was common. But then, of course, she was still the princess of the realm, and would have to be extra careful; scandal among the Royal Family was an entirely different animal. Zelda set to thinking, hugging a pillow to her chest.

She fell asleep without realizing it, curled up on her bed. In her dreams, she and Link were dancing, pressed close, alone in the middle of the Sacred Realm. When she looked up again at him, he took hold of her and kissed her, deeply.

She woke up again with a start, someone having been gently touching her arm. The surprised maid jumped back and bowed. "I apologize for waking you, Your Highness, but it nearly time for dinner."

"Wh… what?" How long had she slept?! Zelda groaned and sat up, slowly, the maid at once attending to her disheveled hair. The worst part, she figured, as the maid worked, was that she hadn't been able to come up with a solution to the problem with Link. She thought on it now as the maid gently combed her hair with her fingers, fixing the braids and her circlet. She'd missed tea entirely, and her stomach growled. The only thing that was coming to her was explaining herself at the ball, surrounded by noise and the self-involved. It would have to do.

She finally rushed downstairs for dinner, her father and Link already waiting. Both men were standing, and the king nodded at his daughter when she finally appeared.

"I sincerely apologize to both of you for my rudeness," Zelda bowed low, her eyes downcast.

"You're forgiven, daughter." The king sat down, and Zelda took her place between Link and the king, the maids hurriedly serving the first course.

Zelda picked at her food, glancing over at Link. He looked content to ignore her. Her heart sank, was he really so mad at her? Surely he understood that she wanted him to stay by her side…

The maids cleared their salad dishes and set down the next course of soup. Zelda managed to catch Link's eye, but she could only see ferociousness there, his own sort of quiet intensity. She tried to focus on her dinner.

Link, to his own credit, had taken Zelda's warning to heart. He was trying to create as uninterested of a persona as possible. So he blatantly ignored her gaze, made a point to say as little to her as possible, and to focus on his meals. Of course, she had no idea of this, so instead she sat there, miserable and a little sad.

"Are you familiar with the family holding the ball, Master Tolrose?"

"No, Your Majesty." Link set down his fork.

"They're a very old family, but with many daughters of an eligible age. It might do your own family good to make a connection with them."

Zelda glanced back and forth between the two men; was her father really suggesting Link try to marry himself to one of those girls? Anger and indignation made her hands clench, and she had to forcefully remind herself that her father had no idea of Link's true nature. After all, she was supposed to be looking for potential kings to the throne anyway. The worst moment though, was when Link nodded his head and smiled.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will remember that at the ball."

He and Zelda locked eyes again, and slowly, he grinned, just a little bit. A cold relief washed over her. Link was faking it! Never had she felt so ridiculous; how could she have fooled herself so easily? Her pounding heart slowed down, and she began to truly enjoy her dinner, eating with a larger appetite.

-

Again, more lessons for him. They rehearsed the close dance from the day before, Link stuck against a different partner this time, and only for a half hour; then Madame taught him a new dance, more of the 'touching palm' variety. She dared to sneak away longer and longer time with his lessons, insisting he needed to get them right, as Madame was a staunch perfectionist. Finally, the princess herself had to interrupt the lesson, just as Link was getting a good grasp of when to turn and when to not.

"I am sorry to interrupt," Zelda announced to the room, although that was a boldfaced lie and she was not sorry. "Master Tolrose has been requested for the final fitting for our ball."

Madame bristled but bowed. "Of course, Your Highness. I am sorry to have kept him."

Link reluctantly stepped away from the group of dancers, nodding and turning, following after Zelda. Once they got outside into the sunshine, she turned and smiled at him. "She held you an hour longer than she was supposed to."

"I didn't realize…" Link muttered, looking away from her. He kept a space apart, so that he was with her, but not _with_ her. Zelda said nothing about it. She'd lied a little bit to Madame Curieire; the tailoring shop had notified them in the morning, and simply requested that they drop by whenever was possible.

"I know you didn't," Zelda replied. Shyly, she dropped back a little and put her arm through Link's, holding her chin high.

Link slowly released her arm. "Now you're just giving me mixed signals," he whispered to her harshly. "Is it okay, or isn't it?"

Zelda sighed in a huff, stepping forward again, her pride hurt. Didn't he realize she wanted him to be close to her? Just not… too close.

They entered the dressmakers' in silence. Zelda managed a smile when the first woman rushed to her, all excited. "We believe that this shall fit Your Highness quite well!" Both women rushed the two of them back, escorting Zelda in first to try on her dress.

Even though he'd seen her in it before, when they opened the curtain and she stepped out, it caught his breath all over again. Zelda lowered her eyes, her hands folded in front of her chest. Link cleared his throat and nodded at her, and the women rushed him into the back, dressing him, fighting with him just a little. They invited Zelda back, so that both of them could stand on twin pedestals and ensure that their clothes were of the right length at the same time.

For a moment or two, they stared at each other with longing. Zelda could read it in his eyes. Her shoes for the dance were brought out, and she slipped them on, climbing up onto the little pedestal so that her dress could be fitted one last time. Link fell into a bit of an argument with his fabrician, as she kept shoving the ugly buckled shoes at him.

"Let him wear his boots," Zelda sighed, staring at her reflection. Link glanced at her, and then away, straightening up for his fitting.


	4. Chapter 4

On the way back from the fabricians, Zelda put her arm through Link's, and he held it. Though they spoke little to each other while in the shop, they didn't have to. Something between them was 'reset', so to speak. Link kept an eye out for too-curious eyes as he leaned his head towards Zelda's ear.

"I need your direction in this. What are the rules?"

Zelda turned her head marginally toward his. "They aren't really that hard. You can take my arm, but you can't look too eager. Act like it is a formality. Kiss only the knuckles of my left hand when bidding me good night. Never follow me up the stairs to my room unless it is an emergency. We can only talk on the most innocuous of subjects; the weather or recent news. Honestly, didn't they tell you all this at commencement?"

"They did, but it was… in more complicated language than this." Flowery language, an older form of their Hylian tongue, done on purpose to confuse the bodyguard into screwing up. Being the princess' guard was not an easy thing to pull off, especially when he was pretending to care nothing for her.

"Our lunches together are fine, they're on an appropriate level, as long as they are out in a public area or being chaperoned by another guard. Always greet me as Your Highness. But you are never to see me in a state of undress unless, once again, it is an emergency."

Link looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He'd seen her gaze at him in the mirrors of the dressmakers' back room. He understood her same, desperate longing for a kindred spirit. He thought of bringing it up, of teasing her about feeling the same way. But he could not think of a joke, and instead, they walked on, back to the castle.

He broke his grasp of her arm to open the doors, like usual, following her in. Zelda waited a beat for him to catch up, him taking her arm again. "There is still some time before dinner, and I feel a walk in the gardens will be beneficial to our health." She looked at him pointedly. "Do you agree?"

Link briefly considered contesting the point that they were just outside, but she looked like she wanted to linger and talk to him more. "Yes, I think that'd be wise, Your Highness."

They immediately turned right and headed to the wide double doors that led out into the gardens, Link again opening one for her. As for their luck, the guards left them alone, one standing at the entrance to the gardens and deciding that was close enough. They headed midway into the maze, finding one of those convenient clearings with stone benches. Zelda sat down first, scooting over and leaving room for Link to join her.

"I've been thinking… that I might want to start practicing sword moves while living here. Maybe join the knights in their training or somethin'."

Zelda nodded, looking around the quiet gardens, listening to the birds singing to each other.

"I feel like I'm getting a little useless. All I do is follow you around," he joked, looking at her. Zelda stared straight ahead, smiling a little at his joke. She couldn't look at him, not for a few minutes, not until she was back under control.

Link thought about it; he thought about leaning over and grabbing her, kissing her mouth and holding her tight. He was positive she felt exactly the same way, and he ached to make that personal, intimate contact with her.

"Why don't you… why don't we practice the dance you learned today?" she said suddenly, as he was just about to lean in.

"Uh… oh. Sure." They both stood again, Zelda smoothing her skirts and waiting for Link to take her hand. He had them do the 'palm' dance he'd learned, going slowly and staying in closer spacing. "Y'know… what'll happen to me once you... when you find a husband?"

Oh right, that. Zelda blinked a few times. "Well." She licked her lips. "The tradition is that you, ah, retire."

"Retire?"

"Yes. You're given a patch of land, like a small viscounty or something, and a considerable account to live on. It's… usually a little ways outside of the castle."

"Ah. And… what if I, say, hadn't performed my duties adequately?" They were dancing closer now, and a little faster.

"You're discharged, so to speak, and get to live as a beggar." She grinned at him, a bad joke.

Link shook his head. "Nothing I'm not used to."

They stopped and stepped apart when a maid approached them, bowing. "Master Tolrose, Your Highness, dinner is nearly ready."

Zelda nodded, dismissing the maid. The young girl was glad for her quick dismissal; after all, the servants' quarters had their own betting pool going over who would kiss whom first. So far, very few had lost money.

"Zelda…" he asked her, as they walked through the towering green walls.

"Yes?" Her eyes were on the path as she tried to remember what way they came. As a child, her frustration came sooner, and she'd eventually throw herself through the bushes, cutting and cheating.

"Do you want to marry anyone?"

She looked at him surreptitiously. "No, not yet."

-

Dinner. Yawn. For a change of pace, though, they were joined by another noble family, who Zelda recognized as the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of one of the largest northern estates. The Grand Duchess was an old woman who powdered her face thickly as to look younger, with the opposite effect, her face and figure round and full, and not in a complementary way. The Grand Duke was just as old, but kindly, with a narrow face and sagging skin, his body wiry and tall. Zelda curtsied deeply, and Link bowed stiffly at the waist. The king smiled all around.

"Dear daughter, you remember the Grand Duke Vincent de L'oeil and his wife, Francesca?"

"Yes, of course," Zelda replied in a soft, clear voice. "I am most honored to see the two of you here."

"This," the king went on, "is her guard, Master Link Tolrose, also of the Northern estates."

The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess looked at him in pleasant surprise. Link squirmed uncomfortably, and Zelda looked quite ill. "How do you do sir, madame," he said in a choked voice. Already he could hear the slicing of the executioner's axe; was everything they worked for going to waste? Bizarrely, he was worried that he would never show Zelda that he could keep in time with his dance steps.

"His Royal Majesty tells us that your father is a Viscount in the north. Where is his land at, if you don't mind?" The Grand Duke puffed around a long pipe.

Link looked at Zelda, then back to the Grand Duke. She couldn't help him, her face frozen. "Well, uh, it's a tiny area, really, on the uh, northwestern tip; a little inlet. Bitterly cold, terrible weather. Father got it for cheap."

The Grand Duchess adjusted a pair of tiny, round-rimmed glasses on her nose, smiling at Link. He could see that her lip stain was smeared across her teeth. "How morose that must be!"

"It's uh, not so bad in the summer, though," Link threw that out there in desperation. "Keeps cool with all the water there."

"Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure." The Grand Duchess noisily sipped a cup of tea, smacking her lips.

"I'd very much like to see this estate sometime, if it is at all possible," the Grand Duke spoke, staring Link down. His skin itched and crawled, where was his sword, don't break eye contact, just do a rolling dive and get be-

Zelda must have noticed Link's fidgeting, for she kicked him in the leg with the stubby point of her heel.

"Agh! Uh, well, he's thinking of selling it!" Uh oh. Everyone at the conversation went silent.

"Oh? Why ever would that be?" The Grand Duke sipped at his own tea, careful and slow.

"Well, he finds that… that it's kinda hard keepin' up with a lot of the land work, cus it's so cold no one wants to live up there, and it's hard to grow anything around there cus the ground is so rocky, and really he feels pretty miserable being a viscount, and it's kinda useless to have a big house when my uh, brothers have all gotten married and moved out."

The king eyed Link suspiciously. "But did one of your brothers not already agree to succeed him in ruling the viscounty?"

Shit! Link floundered, Zelda taking up the conversation for him. "His wife is the daughter of a Marquis in the Western region, and as she is their only child, she will most assuredly be the one to, ah, inherit that land, so Li.. uh, Master Tolrose's brother will inevitably be the next Marquis."

The king, Grand Duke, and Grand Duchess stared at the two teenagers for a heartbeat or three, depending on whose point of view it was.

"Oh," replied the Grand Duke simply, and he turned his attention to the king to inquire about the concerns for drought for the next year. The Grand Duchess immediately wrangled Zelda's attention, asking her wherever did she get her beautiful dress, and were there any eligible bachelors she had an eye for as good ruling material?

Link took an offered cup of wine eagerly, and drank it straight down.

-

Dinner dragged on longer than he thought it would. The excessive alcohol he drank did nothing to help, and he felt heavy, like underwater or wearing the Iron Boots. Zelda did not consume nearly as much as he did, and though he managed to sag through the bows and the gestures of wishing each other well through the night, he was in rough shape by the time Zelda took his arm and had to half-drag him through the castle.

"Look, okay, I understand getting a little nervous, that was a bit of a hair-raiser now, and I'm certain that I would feel just as eager for the bottle as you obviously did, but damn it all, Link, stand up straight!" She pushed on him, Link leaning heavily on her lighter frame. "You are going to feel like a crop of bomb flowers was grown on your head in the morning," she grumbled, half-shoving him to his rooms.

"Zelda, Zelda, I'm sorry, I j… I just got so damned nervous, cus, cus…" here Link lowered his voice, leaning into the princess as he whispered. "Because we _liiiied so much._ We almost got _caught._"

Zelda wrinkled her nose and turned her head away. "Did you not get a mint leaf? Goddesses."

She foisted him off onto two guards, who struggled to hold Link up. "Take him to his rooms, please." They bowed and did as asked, even though Link wriggled against their hold. "G'night, Your Highness!" he called drowsily.

"Come _on,_ Bruiser," the guards grumbled as they shoved him along.

"Hell yeah I'm a bruiser," Link growled in response, waving one fist. "I kicked Ganon's arse once an' I'll do it again twice if need be, the right bastard."

They flung him, unceremoniously, onto his bed, helping him take off his shoes and deciding that was the extent of their duties.

"Good night, Bruiser," one of them called to him, both of them laughing as they left.

Link rolled over on his stomach, groaning, his head swirling and spinning. He thought of Zelda, and then of his dance lessons tomorrow, more swirling and spinning and twirling—

He dove under his bed and retrieved his cleaned chamber pot, puking up most of the alcohol he drank and then some. He hugged it close between his legs, pressing his forehead against the mattress of the bed and emptying his stomach until there was nothing left but bile.

Link felt much better afterwards, and he grappled his way back up onto his bed, sprawling across the cool sheets on his stomach and burying his face into a pillow. Sweet slumber was the prescription for this illness now.

In a dream, he was staring into Zelda's eyes. As the image focused, he found they were at a wedding ceremony, holding hands, Zelda all in white and smiling. The preacher turned a page in his book and called, "Are there any who believe these two should not be wed?"

"I do!" cried Zelda, and her eyes were tearing up. "This man is a liar! A fake! He has no viscount father, he has no brothers! Everything you know of him is a lie!"

The crowd gasped in horror, and someone was grabbing Link by the back of the neck, pushing him down on his knees, his head going onto the chopping block.

"Say your prayers, hero!" bellowed Ganondorf, the executioner, wielding the Master Sword. Link looked up once in horror, squeezing his eyes shut as the blade started to fall—

In the real world, a voice was whispering over his head to another. "Listen, listen, this is hilarious."

"Goddesses, this chamber pot stinks. Looks like he's puked up everythin' he's ever ate! What are you goin' on about?"

"Watch! … Link, Link. This is the Princess Zelda." The servant giggled behind one hand, quietly.

"H'lo…" was Link's drunken reply.

"Link… do you like me?"

"… eah…"

"Stop that!" whispered the other maid, furious at having to haul around a chamber pot of vomit. "Get back to work!"

"Do you want to maaarry me, Link?"

"Nnngh.."

"Was that a yes?"

The door slammed open, and the one maid almost dropped the puke pot in surprise. The other one straightened away from Link's feverish, sweaty form, and they both stared in sudden fear at the princess, her eyes ablaze.

"What are you dawdling for?" she snapped. "Wake him up! He has already slept through breakfast and is going to miss his tutoring!"

Both maids bowed best as they could, the one with the vomit bucket rushing out the door and the one hovering over Link trying to shake him awake. This was a bad move; he grabbed her by the arm, his eyes opening and blazing. "I am no longer a child, Ganon! I am the paragon of courage, I am Farore's chosen one!" The maid cried out in pain; Link was bruising her.

Zelda rushed over and slapped Link around the face. "Snap out of it!" she shouted.

It worked; he dropped the maid's arm and fell back over, dead asleep.

"Get fresh clothes ready!" she snapped after the maid, peevish. While the maid was in another room, Zelda leaned over Link, shaking him. "Wake up, you foolish devil, wake up right now!"

Link's eyelids fluttered and he stared up at her in a daze. "Zelda? What are you doing in the Water Temple?"

"Goddess," she cursed under her breath. "Wake. Up!" She smacked him on the head, and Link cried out, clutching his temples.

"Shit and hell!" he cried out, rolling away. "What was that for?!"

"Wake up, damn you!" she shouted back, even as Link flinched. "You're going to be late!"

Link managed to force himself out of bed, and with the help of the remaining maid, got dressed in clean clothes. With her help, he managed to stumble out of the bedroom and down the hall to the ballroom, where Madame Curieire and her students stood patiently waiting.

"You are late!" she snapped, and he was, but not by too much.

"I'm terribly sorry, I'm sorry," he apologized.

She shook her head and started the music.

"This is a faster beat!" she shouted to him. "The dance is faster and closer! Take to your partners!" Again, he got the grouchy girl with dark hair. She sighed and positioned his hands; one on the hip, one in her own, using them again to brace them three feet apart. Madame thumped one heeled shoe on the floor in time to the music, rapid violins and an acoustic guitar playing together.

The dancer glared up at Link. "My foot forward, yours back," she muttered, showing him. "Now the other one." He followed her steps, staring at their feet. "Back and forth three times," she muttered, "and then a dip," as she demonstrated it, flexing back. "Now up again, twirl," as she spun herself on Link's hand that she held, "—and spin inward," as she spun herself along his arm, tucking against his chest with her small back and kicking out, "—out again, come back in, and repeat." She did not stop, hardly pausing for air. Link was glad that he was a man, and would not have to worry about memorizing much of the complicated steps for this dance.

"Is this a … Gerudo style of dance?" he asked her when she got close enough. The unfamiliar sensuality of it, for some reason, reminded him of the Gerudo dancing troupe he'd met briefly on his travels.

"Yes," she replied, still putting Link through the motions, "Madame believes that all forms of dance have something to offer, and she has studied all of them extensively. Hylian dance is best for slow music. Gerudo dance…" a dip, "is faster."

"I guess so," he replied awkwardly. This was certainly one dance he would hesitate to practice with Zelda, at least for now.

What he did not know was that a maid had come in briefly to mention that Link's hour of work was up, and she noted the rather… intimate dance they were practicing, but not really how Link held his partner, with enough grip to keep her from falling. The rumor mill in the castle churned.

Zelda was heading to the very ballroom now, a picnic basket on her arm. She slowed down in her steps before turning the corner to the room, hearing two of the girls whisper.

"Quite a frisky dance they've got today. Seems like our little guard has taken a shining to his dance partner."

"You think that means the bet's off?"

"Depends on what happens at the ball tomorrow."

Zelda slowed down, taking a deep breath. This was getting ridiculous. She straightened her spine, frowning; hardly moving a muscle when the two maids came around the corner, jumping. "Good- good day, Your Highness!" She smiled at them, eyes narrowed and tilting her head slightly, before brushing on by, cold.

The guards opened the doors for her, and Zelda paused in the doorway. Link was easy to spot; he was the only one not dressed all in black. She stared as he dipped his partner, spinning her on his hand and pulling her back in. When she got back up and saw the princess, waiting with a basket on one arm, she pulled away quickly, letting Link's hands drop. Madame clapped once, sharply, and someone ran to turn off the music. Link turned around.

Zelda managed a smile, clenching one hand around the basket handle. "Quite impressive progress you've made in the past week, Master Tolrose." She turned her head towards the towering Madame, tilting her head down slightly. "I thank you for the changes you have made in him."

Madame bowed her head. "It is a pleasure to assist the Royal Family, Your Highness."

Link offered her a shy smile, putting his hands on his hips. Zelda looked towards him, smiling a little bit. "Lunch?" she asked softly.

"Certainly," he replied. He turned and awkwardly waved to the dancers. His partner offered a faint upturn of her mouth, and waved back.

-

When Link took Zelda's arm, she relaxed. There couldn't be any truth to what the maids had been going on about. After all, most of the popular dances involved being very close together, barely an arm's-length apart. It was just her, being selfish.

Lunch had been obtained quickly this time, and there was once more a contrast between hot beef and cold, spicy mustard. Link was ravenous and thirsty. He drank eagerly from the tea pots, preferring the cold first (Zelda rathered for hot anyway), and devoured his lunch, his stomach angry for having gone empty so long. Zelda fiddled with her napkin as they ate, smiling. "Maybe," she ventured, "we could practice your new dance a little later."

"Mm." Link thought about it, giving himself time to chew and swallow. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."

Zelda flinched, looking at him, her head downtilted. "Why?"

Link rushed to finish his next bite. "It's… kind of… I dunno if it would look good."

"Why? Because I'm not a professional?" Her voice had lowered to a hiss.

Link looked at her in bewilderment. "Ze— Your Highness, it's…" He lowered his voice, leaning close. "I don't know how good it would look to the watchful gaze of the guards and castle. It's a kinda… it's a raunchy dance. Don't get all bent outta shape."

Zelda blushed. "I just… I'm sorry." She rubbed her eyes, sighing deeply. "I haven't been sleeping well."

"What's wrong?" He leaned in towards her across the table.

"I'm just… panicking," she murmured. "About the country and… my responsibilities that are rapidly encroaching…" her eyes flicked towards him and down again., "and keeping you alive. Every day, every moment we're together, I worry that… something's going to happen."

"Like what?"

"That Father will discover the truth about you. That… someone will undo all our lies." That she'd break down and kiss him, but she wasn't about to say that one out loud. Not yet.

"Look." Link reached across the table to touch her hand, to comfort her, and Zelda slid her hand back. He remembered and brought his back too, holding it down with the other hand. "We only have to survive another month under scrutiny, yeah? An'… yeah, I was stupid, I got outta control around those uh, that Duke an' his wife, but…"

"We must get our stories straight," she spoke over him, folding her hands. "We did well last night, but if we're separated for any reason, we cannot collaborate on what the … facts are." Link nodded his head, sitting back, and Zelda went on. "We've established that… your father is a viscount, selling his land, your brother is going to be a Marquis in the south end—"

"West end."

"What?" Zelda set down the strawberry she picked up to eat.

"Marquis on the west end," Link grumbled.

"Damn," Zelda muttered under her breath. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, cus I was thinkin', well of course there'd be a nice house on the West end, that's near the Lake Hylia beaches."

"What about your other two brothers?" she continued, toying with the strawberry now.

"Uh…" Link slumped in his seat, thinking. "Middle eldest is uh, I dunno, he's a sailman or something, wants to sail the world. Third eldest has settled down with a small home near the East end. I don't see 'im much." Zelda nodded, remembering it.

"Any sisters?"

Link thought about it, shaking his head. "No. No sisters."

"Very well. What about your mother?"

Link sighed. "A nurse for a duchy whose land she grew up on, until Father saved up enough money to where she could leave and not have to work."

Zelda nodded. "Who did she work for?"

"I don't…" Link sighed in frustration. "I dunno."

Zelda tilted her head. "Well we have to think of someone."

"Maybe it was a small duchy. I don't know any nobility, Zelda, you know them all."

"Perhaps a baron, then. Someone she could step above in triumph." She sighed. "Baron Elsin… he's rather old, and has many children. I doubt he'd remember all their nurses."

They fell into silence. Link listened to birds singing overhead; he felt much more comfortable now that his sore throat and headache were abating, and his stomach had something to do.

"The ball is tomorrow," Zelda murmured finally, under her breath.

"Yes."

They sat again in silence, and once again Zelda broke it.

"Do you always have… dreams?" She wanted to say nightmares, but they didn't seem that way.

"Huh?" Link turned to her, confused.

"When we woke you this morning, um, you were… you screamed about fighting Ganon." She looked at him, and Link scratched his head, embarrassed.

"I did?"

"Yes."

"Well, to be honest, I um… I don't remember dreaming about that." He remembered other dreams he'd had that night, dreams that he could not share. "Did I hurt anyone?"

"You gave the maid trying to wake you a nasty bruise," she offered, smiling a little bit in sympathy.

Link shook his head. "Are you sure I'm worth all this trouble?"

"I am confident in it."

Before dinner, their clothes with the final touches arrived. The elegant garments were carried in cedar and pine boxes by the maids, Link's in his room and Zelda's in hers, set up and shaken out, hung up to keep wrinkles from forming. Zelda lingered in her room, staring at the dress, her maids holding a trove of jewelry for her to select from that would match. She had diamonds and sapphires aplenty, gold and silver settings, tiny post earrings and long, elaborate dangling earrings, necklaces both long and meant for looping around the head, and others tiny, almost chokers (but that was not a worry for her), bracelets that clasped around the wrist with all manner of locking mechanisms, and a treasure trove of rings.

"None of this will do," she moaned in desperation. "Get me my cloak, I need to go to a jeweler's."

They rushed her to the door. "Your Highness, should not your bodyguard go with you?" one asked in a low voice.

Zelda shook her head. "There's no time, and he has his own dilemmas, I am sure." With that, she dashed from the castle.

Zelda was entirely wrong. Link had looked over his outfit, nodded once, and promptly forgot about it again, practicing his dance moves in front of a mirror. Even now, he could picture the ball (for some reason it bore a striking resemblance to the hideous castle Ganondorf had lived in), swarming with stuffy children of dukes and counts alike, wrapped in their hideous clothing. He and Zelda would part the crowd, in the center, their heads held high as they danced. The awed masses would fall silent in amazement at his skill, and whispers would float around the room.

"I hear he is the son of a powerful Viscount."

"I hear his brother is a Marquis."

"I hear that the king has approved of their affection for each other."

"Any man'd be lucky to have such a girl."

-

Zelda made her third circle around the display cases of the jeweler's wares. The few workers of the shop stood around, smiling at her, intimidated by her power. Finally, she managed to settle on a pair of earrings, tiny ones with a blue crystal hanging above a white pearl. "Those," she murmured, pointing.

"Excellent choice, Your Highness." The earrings were retrieved and folded into a box.

She looked over the rings and bracelets, but none caught her eye; perhaps she would just wear gloves instead. On a whim, she wandered to looking at the pins and brooches, running one hand along the edge of the display. One brooch caught her eye. It was very simple, a yellow gold Triforce, with a thin circle of rose gold around its outer points. To brace the triangles together, in the center, was another triangle of white gold. "Can I… have this as well?" she asked, tapping the glass to point to it.

The pin was wrapped in a separate box, and Zelda thanked them as she left the shop, heading back to the castle. She'd put the brooch in a little bag on her hip with the other one, and now and again she touched the corner of the box through the leather material, to know that it was still there.

When she got back into the castle, she first encountered her father, who looked rather alarmed that she'd run out on her own. "Zelda!" he shouted at her. She cowered in surprise, staring at him.

"Is everything okay?" he asked in a panic, rushing to her and holding her close. It'd been a long time since he held her close, and for a little while she felt like a little girl again.

"Father, I'm alright. I just… I didn't have anything to match my dress for tomorrow, and I wanted to get something now so that I would not forget tomorrow while I got ready." She smiled at him nervously, though her father did look old and worried.

"I was just concerned; Master Tolrose did not go with you. Do you get on with him alright?"

"Yes Father, he is a good man."

The king nodded and sighed, kissing his daughter's cheek. "Come, then, dinner is set."

-

They were on the second course, soups, when the king cleared his throat. Link and Zelda both looked towards him, waiting.

"Dear daughter, what was your opinion of the Grand Duke and Duchess?"

Zelda gently touched the handle of her dessert spoon, thinking. "Honestly, father, I thought the Grand Duke was a gentleman, but his wife was… a gossipy boor."

"The reason I ask is that they have a nephew of your age who is chosen to take over their estate once they pass. Such a marriage may be advantageous, as it would give you, as the queen, tighter control over the northern realm."

Link put his soup spoon back into the half-empty bowl, not feeling so hungry anymore. Zelda glanced at him significantly, then back towards the king. "Father, I feel that before I make any such decision, I would need to actually meet their nephew. After all, he would be the one I marry."

Link lowered his eyes to his soup bowl. Zelda did not meet his gaze, returning to her own soup. "Your Majesty, if I can be so bold," Link finally spoke. The king looked at him in surprise, but nodded. "I… I was thinking that, in the early mornings, I should like to train with the Royal Guard, so that I might be better prepared to protect Her Highness should, uh, Goddesses forbid, the need arise. I uh… I'm a young man, you know, and I feel that could be useful to the country, instead of me just going off to live a pampered life once Her Highness has selected a husband."

"I thank you for your consideration, Master Tolrose. If that is what you desire, I shall speak with the Guard Captain about beginning your training tomorrow. Truly, I am moved by your dedication to your country."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Zelda glanced at Link over her soup bowl, but he was looking not at her, but at his food.


	5. Chapter 5

As was their little tradition, Link walked Zelda to her rooms. As soon as they were not in plain sight of the king or any guards, Zelda leaned her head in. "What was that all about? Being part of the Royal Guard?"

"I meant it," he whispered back. "I need something to keep myself busy, and no amount of money will keep me content. I need to do something during the day; after this ball, I won't have any more dancing lessons, and I'll be miserable bored."

"Is that it?" Zelda asked quietly. "Just so you won't be bored living a life of comfort?" It almost made her laugh, thinking of Link surrounded with finery and being miserable, but it was also very true.

"Well, no. I mean…" he squeezed her hand, secretly. "I'd get lonely pretty fast without you." He looked at her and Zelda smiled, turning her head away and blushing.

It was pretty clear to him that it was the easiest way for Link to stay close to Zelda, even after he was done being her personal guard. In a way, he'd still be her guard, but he'd be one of hundreds. He had been thinking about it off and on since she told him about his 'retirement' once his duties were completed. Plus, he enjoyed battle. It would give him a great opportunity to participate in any that arose, as well as keeping fit.

They stopped, like usual, at the bottom of the staircase. Zelda reluctantly withdrew her hand from Link's arm, offering him a little smile. "Do you think you're ready for tomorrow?" she asked softly.

"I think so," he replied. He bent down and kissed her hand, squeezing the fingers once. "Good night, Your Highness."

"Good night." She smiled at him and went upstairs, her hand resting again on the box in her leather pouch.

-

Link had been woken up in very uncomfortable and sudden ways many times while living as a vagabond and then a jack-of-all-trades at the tavern. Screaming matrons that the chimney was plugged and the flotsam collected inside had caught on fire, a sharp kick from a steel-covered boot for him to move on from the decrepit alleyway of a bar, and even, once or twice, almost being mugged, as it was assumed he was dead. Since living in the castle, it was far more gentle of an awakening, especially once he became accustomed to it. The soft shaking of his shoulder, sometimes a distant, whispered, "Master Tolrose, it is morning." Even after those first initial days when he still woke up swinging, it was relaxing in comparison.

Unfortunately though, Link had to open his big mouth and tell the king his idea. So the day of the ball, two hours before he'd usually be woken up by the soft whispers of the girls that tended his rooms, a gong went off next to his head.

It wasn't really a gong; it was the flat side of a sword blade struck hard against the round bottom of a massive copper bowl. Link jumped out of his skin, his legs tangling in the sheets and his whole body going over the bed, where he landed painfully. "Get up, soldier!" boomed the powerful voice of the guard captain. Link stared up at him with dazed eyes, confused. He kicked his way out of the bed sheets, and the captain threw clothes at him; raggy, patchy, 'new fish' soldier clothes, old and worn, and with curious stains through the seat of the pants. At least they were freshly washed.

He pulled on his clothes fast, catching the boots as they were thrown at him, catching up quickly. At least he had not lost his habit of waking up at a moment's notice. The captain noted this, and silently approved. "Out!" he shouted, chasing Link out of his rooms and towards the massive practicing field out back, past the bewildered and half-asleep maids that were heading to the kitchens for breakfast.

Practicing with the army was, in many ways, easier than dancing. He already knew what steps they'd be taking and how to take them, just not the order. It was easier for him to catch up this way. They started their practice before dawn, the grass still wet and the sky grey. Link huffed and sweated, swinging around a rusty and chipped sword as he practiced. A year and two months of doing nothing but repairs and following Zelda around had not been kind to his sword form. The guard captain kept his eye on the new recruit, and Link could only feel that his ribbing would get worse from the men who had to keep an eye out.

"Bruiser might actually be kinda dangerous. He's already not bad," one of the guards muttered to another as they polished the metal of their boots.

"Yeah, that's for certain. Makes me wonder where he got his moves from." They went silent as Link walked past, his plate already polished and put away, and he in his underclothes. He was thankful for his own private bath, and that he would not have to share the same massive tub as the other men.

"Doesn't seem like a poor Viscount's son should know battle so damn easy."

"Maybe it's all them dancing lessons."

They shared a laugh over it, and took up the next piece of armor to polish.

-

Link managed to get a quick breakfast between training and his dancing lessons. He had gotten dressed in his plain clothes, and poked into the kitchens to see if anyone would miss a cinnamon bun. A young serving girl snuck it over to him with a wink and her finger across her lips, hushing him. He backed up a step to leave, and turned back around, remembering something, leaning back in. "Could you… have Zelda let me know if we'll have time for lunch today?" She nodded with a smile. "Just tell her to leave a note in my rooms or something." The girl nodded again, and Link beamed, thanking her.

He walked briskly back to his rooms, eating in large bites. But he felt awake, alive, and like he had a new purpose. That now, he'd be even better at protecting Zelda. But for now, he took some time to himself in his rooms to relax.

Zelda, meanwhile, had finally been woken up while Link was sitting in his rooms with his quick breakfast. She took her time getting ready, bathing in scented bathwater. These little luxuries were some of her favorite things about being a princess. As she soaked up the clean floral scents of the water, two of her maids thoroughly washed and combed her long hair, trimming up the ends evenly. A third was gently buffing her nails, and yet another was scrubbing her arms and face gently with a rough stone, to smooth the skin.

She let her eyes slide closed as she fell back asleep, soaking in the tub. The maids held their breath until they were certain that she was not awake.

"Do you think Master Tolrose will be pleased with her appearance?" one of the hairwashers asked the other. They all laughed softly.

"We are certain they haven't kissed yet, right?" asked the girl buffing the nails.

"As certain as we can be; they're watched almost constantly to keep that very thing from happening. I think we'd hear about it by now."

"This betting pool is gettin' ridiculous. You know the men have a differen' one?" offered the girl buffing Zelda's skin.

"Oh? What would that one be?"

"Well, they think that the princess an' Master Tolrose are…"

All four maids went silent and slowly looked down at Zelda, whose eyes were open. She slowly extracted her hand from the slack grip of the girl doing her nails and folded her arms. All five women stared at each other. "No more talk," Zelda muttered quietly. The maids nodded their heads slowly, reluctantly going back to their tasks.

Because she woke up late and wanted to take her time getting ready, Zelda forgot to meet Link for lunch. Because the second she ran into the princess' room to give the princess Link's message, her arms were stuffed with the day's laundry, the girl from the kitchens failed to let Zelda know of his request. And because she was so eager to assure that she had done her job to the satisfaction of His Majesty and Her Highness, Madame Curieire held Link an extra hour and a half, working him as hard as she could over more difficult dance steps. By the end of it, he was sweaty again, and Madame Curieire was glowing with an inner pride. "I think," she said softly, folding her arms, "you are ready."

Two maids had been waiting patiently outside of the ballroom. Link thanked his dancing partner, apologizing again for her feet. She smiled, a little more this time.

"It's alright, it was inevitable. I'm just glad I helped you learn." They shook hands, a little awkwardly.

"Uh, what's your name?" he asked as they shook.

"It's Phoebe," she replied, flicking her dark hair out of her eyes.

"Thank you, Phoebe."

"Just watch out for Her Highness' feet."

"I'll try." He smiled as he stepped out, eager to share lunch with the princess and tell her that Madame felt confident in his dance steps. But he was latched onto by two of the heavier cooks running the kitchen.

"You're running late!" one of them shouted. "You were supposed to be bathed an hour ago!"

"I already bathed!" he shouted in a panic as they started dragging him to his rooms.

"Learning to dance takes time!" Madame shouted down the hall in her defense.

So because of these factors, Link did not get to see Zelda much at all during the day. While she was gently having her hair combed one final time before being misted with more scented water and carefully styled atop of her head, the thick-armed cooks were scrubbing Link almost painfully.

"Hold still!" one growled at him as she tackled his hair, which had barely dried from his own, private bath earlier in the day. As her maids carefully dusted a light pink powder across the apple of Zelda's cheeks, Link was having his own hair quickly combed and trimmed. Zelda was applying her own lash stain, pressed close to the mirror, as her maids checked the beading on her shoes and dress to make sure none were amiss, and that her gloves, beautiful cream satin things that buttoned from wrist to elbow, were clean.

Link, during this, was arguing with one of the ruddy-faced cooks and the shy, trembling girl trying to apply makeup.

"I'm not a damned woman! I'm not wearing all that shit on my face! You think I'm a poof or something?!"

"It's the style, Master Tolrose, just to enhance your masculine features—"

"I don't give a shit what the style is! Did Her Highness tell you I'm wearin' knee high boots too?! I'm an affront to all this bloody pomp y'all think is so necessary, and I like it that way!"

"Master Tolrose!" shouted the cook, but she did not get very far.

"I refuse to wear that fecking makeup, an' so help me Goddess, if ye try an' put so much as a smudge o' that stupid stuff on my face, I…" What could he do? Well, he _was _the son of a Viscount, right? "I'll have you thrown out!"

They stared at him in shock. "Very well, Master Tolrose," muttered the cook. She shooed away the girl with the makeup, who looked very near to tears. Oh, Zelda would hear about this, no doubt.

Zelda sucked in a deep breath, and slowly exhaled all she could, gripping one of her bedposts tightly with two hands as two of her maids pulled with all their strength on the ties to her corset. They went as tight as possible, until the fabric creaked like old wood and Zelda's face flushed with exertion. She put in her own earrings, a little sensitive about her ears, glancing at the other box she'd brought home from the jeweler's. She reached out and touched one corner, smiling slightly.

Link was finally starting to get dressed, his hair parted on one side and neatly combed, lightly waxed to stay in place. "Oh," muttered the girl doing his hair. She cowered slightly at Link's gaze, but he was no longer angry with anyone.

"Well, sir, your earrings… they're kind of a purple and don't match."

"So?"

"Look, it's just for one night. I'll see if there's some simple ones like those you can borrow. Okay?"

She was already running off before Link thought to ask her who she was borrowing them from.

-

Zelda hardly turned around as her doors opened, as she was trapped halfway through her underdress. The top, unseen when the overdress was laced over it, had no straps or sleeves of any kind, and had a thin layer of reinforcing material to smooth out any wrinkles or lines from her corset, so that a chemise would be unnecessary. It hooked in the back, and she stood with both arms raised as a maid helped hook the dress closed.

"Master Tolrose wears earrings, his uh… aren't the right shade," the newest girl to enter the room muttered to another maid, searching carefully through a box of Zelda's older jewelry and fishing out two tiny gold hoops.

"Wait, wait," whispered the woman nearest her. "He threw a huge tantrum about not wanting to wear makeup and look like a poof, but he wears _earrings_?"

The first girl shrugged, the earrings tucked carefully in her palm. She almost left when Zelda called out "Wait!"

Nervously, the girl turned and walked over to her, curtsying. Zelda looked her over carefully. "Let me see your face and those earrings." She made careful note of the girl's features, a freckle above her upper lip, a short, squat nose, and two terrified brown eyes under a loose, short shock of brown hair.

"Very well," she muttered, turning away.

At first, the girl insisted on trying to put the new earrings in Link's ears herself. But after a few minutes of her poking and scratching the area around his piercing with the end of the post, he took them from her and did it on his own, popping in the earrings in two seconds. But he did need help tying his cravat, and she happily obliged. His boots some kind soul had polished while he was getting the life scrubbed out of him, and he put them on quickly, feeling a little more comfortable in his attire once he had something familiar on. His maid gave him one last look over, reaching up and tucking a strand of his hair back into place, and finally nodded her approval.

Zelda was still getting dressed when Link was done. She pulled on thin cream stockings with a similar ribbing pattern to her dress, attaching them to a garter belt at her thighs so they would not slip. They finally pulled on her overdress, lacing it together in the front, and someone put her earrings in while she sat patiently as they threaded hair pins through her hair, the ends that poked out stuck with tiny blue gems. She held out her arms and two girls buttoned up her gloves around them, making sure they were secure. Finally, she packed a small purse that she would wear on her hip with extra lip stain, a blotter for sweat, a tiny fan, and a comb in case her hair got out of line. She stood and put her feet in her shoes, taking up the unopened box from the jeweler's, and did a little turn for her maids. They clapped in amazement for her, and Zelda laughed, her eyes bright. "Let us go downstairs and see if Master Tolrose is ready, yes?"

They led her down in a small entourage. Link was already standing downstairs, talking amicably with the guards who were to ride in the carriage with them. His back was to the hall that led to Zelda's rooms, so he did not see her until one of the girls cleared her throat to announce the princess.

He wheeled and stared at her, his mouth opening in surprise. She smiled and looked towards the floor, shy at his reaction. The guards bowed deeply to her, and Zelda's father appeared from another hall, beaming at his daughter. Zelda swept over to her father and hugged him, kissing both his cheeks. "You look absolutely stunning, my dear," the king said with a glow of happiness around him. "Isn't she lovely, Master Tolrose?"

Link could only slowly nod, his eyes wide. "She's beautiful."

The king narrowed his eyes, but turned back to his daughter. "Do you have everything?"

"Yes Father, I do."

"Good, good. The carriage should be ready shortly." He patted Zelda's hands, and turned to Link, reaching out to shake his hand. Link fell for the trap and the king jerked him in close, grabbing him by the back of the neck. "If you violate my daughter, you will wish that a beheading is all you will receive."

"Father!" Zelda shouted, grabbing him and tugging on his shoulders. "I can take care of myself! Link is a good and virtuous person!"

Link thanked whoever was watching him that he'd been too frozen with surprise and intimidation when the king grabbed him, otherwise his first instinct would've been self-defense. He wheeled away from the king's grip, who granted his daughter one last kiss on the cheek before wandering back to his rooms to pore over documents of great import. Zelda shook her head, though she understood her father's concern. Link shook himself like a wet dog to release the too-late rush of adrenaline, and when he looked up again, Zelda was holding a box in her gloved hands.

"I um… I found your outfit was a little plain, so I got something for you." Link looked down at his clothes and raised an eyebrow. This was _plain_? Zelda opened the box and took out the brooch, only two inches across, stepping forward to pin it to his lapel. She was mere inches from him, the skirt of her dress brushing against his knees, her hand warm through her glove and his shirt as she carefully pinned it on. "There," she murmured, patting the pin. She smiled up at Link, clearing her throat and stepping back.

They didn't have to wait long for the carriage, and were sent off with a small basket of a light dinner; bite-size sandwiches, two small corked bottles of sparkling water, and tiny chunks of fruit meant to be eaten with forks to keep their hands clean. It would be a near three-hour trip to the mansion, and even then they were leaving a little late. The guards helped Zelda up into the massive white carriage first, carefully crushing her skirts inward as she wriggled through the narrow door. Link climbed in afterward, careful to not step on her dress as he sat across from her, the guards hopping in and sitting down in the remaining space.

The many servants and maids stood at the doors, waving as the horses started on their way to the party. When the carriage was out of sight down the main road, one of the serving girls nudged the other. "Shall we open up the betting pool now?"

Away all of them dashed to the kitchens, propping open the door into the main hall so that they could hear if they were being called. Cook started a stew going over the fire, and two of the guards tapped a massive keg of ale, passing around mugs.

"Alright!" shouted one of the oldest women employed by the castle, standing near the fireplace alongside one of the oldest guards. "You've all got your bookie slips, I hope! Now gentlemen, you've been losing so far-"

"There's still plenty of time!" shouted a guard, the others kicking up cheers.

"Oh please," one of the younger maids retorted. "They're practically clawing up the walls with lust for each other, you saw how Tolrose was starin' at Her Highness! No man stares like that what isn't a man with an itch!"

"Well we've changed our bet!" shouted one of the other men. "We're bettin' if he's gonna give it to 'er tonight or not!" A few of the guards laughed.

"That's vulgar as all hell!" shouted back the first maid. But privately she began to whisper with the girl next to her on how viable that was.

"Oh I very much doubt it, he seems pretty honorable, really."

A guard broke out a set of playing cards and they gathered around, talking and muttering, some lighting up cigarettes as they chatted about Link's curious background and the likelihood of the couple 'doing it'.

-

The two guards that were accompanying Link and Zelda had drawn the short straws for the ride. But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing; they were the ones who were going to report if the two kissed or not; to the betting pools first, and then the king. Since they were being so careful though, the guards would ride on the back of the carriage on the return trip, albeit listening through the narrow opening cut in the back of the carriage cover for ventilation. Link shifted in his seat. The carriage was spacious enough and decorated elaborately, but he could feel the wooden ledges just under the thick seat pillows with every jolt.

Zelda stretched out her legs and ate carefully, mindful of her clothes. Her feet accidentally bumped Link's feet, and she apologized in a low voice. They ate most of the dinner by the first hour of the trip, and the rest was spent in silence.

"How, um. How was your first day of… training?" Zelda finally asked, twirling one of the loose locks of hair around her face on one finger.

"It was…" Link shifted, looking at the two guards. "It was good. At least, I thought so. Uh…" he looked at the two guards again. "I feel a little rusty about it though. I'm… glad to get back out there on the field. It feels good to hold a sword."

The carriage fell silent again, and quickly.

Zelda rested her forehead against the side of the carriage, letting her eyes close. Link looked around at the very bored guards, and then down at the brooch the princess had pinned on him, looking it over. It entertained him for a bit, and finally, he rested his head against the wall of the carriage too, closing his eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

When he woke up again, it was because of a noise outside of the carriage. Link snapped awake in seconds, looking around with narrowed eyes, relaxing again when he realized all was safe. The guards lowered the stairs to the carriage, hopping out. "Your Highness," one called. "We've arrived."

Zelda groaned and opened her eyes. Link helped her stand up in the carriage, helping her descend first. He hopped down after her, Zelda smoothing her skirts. "Do I look okay?" She peered into Link's face, and he nodded, averting his eyes quickly so that the guards wouldn't catch him.

"Yes, you look… fine." He turned his face towards the house.

Mansion, really. The sprawling estate was all marble columns and wide porches, massive windows that were aglow with light. The sounds he heard were people cheering and laughing, and loud music thrumming through the open windows. He looked around at the guards, in attire similar to the Royal Guards but for their banner colors of the Duke's family. They saluted when they saw it was the princess, and opened the doors for them. Link took Zelda's arm in his as the guards stepped into the party.

"Introducing, Her Highness the Princess Zelda, and Master Link Tolrose!"

The wild party went quiet for the announcement, and picked back up quickly, even louder. Link took Zelda's arm and smiled at her, and they walked forward into the party.

The inside of the mansion was massive, and flooded with women and men in a fascinating variety of colors. He could easily see that all his lessons on keeping in line and holding form were not going to matter an ounce. While people were dancing, they certainly weren't holding any sense of a line or a pattern. They swapped partners indiscriminately with each other, sometimes two of the same sex dancing. Zelda nudged him gently with a grin. "Relax, Link, it's a party."

They stepped out of the doorway and into the main party. People waved and applauded to see their princess standing among them, and Zelda laughed, waving. Link turned his head. The massive room was lit with chandeliers made of faceted glass, lending a warm glow to the cream walls. There was a band at one end of the room made of five people, playing a fast beat on violins and acoustic guitars.

Zelda pulled Link along by the hand, merging slowly into the crowd. A brief sensation of panic engulfed him among the loud, cheering group, but Zelda's warm hand kept him under control. Something shrieked in his ear and Link panicked, his heart pounding in his chest. But when he whirled around to see who it was, he jumped in surprise.

"Link!" Ruto screamed, her eyes bright. She was wrapped in a soft yellow dress with long gauzy sleeves that billowed around her arms and fins, the satin body of the dress almost off shoulder and hanging to the floor with a narrow skirt, a thin layer of chiffon overlay floating along the floor. She had an elegant head dress of gold filigree and long, dangling earrings that touched her shoulders. As she looked him over, her eyes glowing in approval, he wondered if she remembered, or thought they had not seen each other in over seven years. But instead she turned and hugged Zelda as well, and they kissed each other's cheeks. "Goddesses, don't you both look wonderful? There's an amazing buffet at the other end of the hall, if you want I'll take you to it."

"Sure, sure," replied Zelda. They cut a path through the dancers, people offering hellos and greetings, eyeing Link after smiling at the queen. As they got farther from the music, the crowd and noise petered out. There was an elaborate buffet set up, and Ruto helped herself to a tall glass of water ("It's the only way I can stay at this party for longer than an hour") with a small plate of wilted spinach and strawberry salad. Zelda took up a bite-size portion of flame-cooked steak bruschetta, holding the plate close and very mindful of her cream underdress. Link took as much as he dared; cooked cold shrimp with cocktail sauce, the aforementioned bruschetta, slices of poached pears skewered on toothpicks, and something that was wrapped in bacon and squelched between his teeth. When he asked Zelda what they were in a soft whisper, she replied, "Scallops."

They lingered at the edge of the party, eating their fill and wiping their hands on cloth napkins. Really, the food for the trip hadn't been enough. Zelda grabbed them both a glass of glittering champagne, taking Link by the wrist and pulling him slowly back into the crowd.

"Is this what these parties are like?" he asked her, shouting in the direction of her ear.

"Yes!" she replied. "It's fun, but I'd recommend drinking a bit if you get nervous easy! Makes it better!"

So he did. They both did, actually, and Ruto only encouraged it, hanging around them. Link met dozens of people, all of which Zelda somehow knew, but Link struggled with their names after about his fourth or so glass of some sugary punch concoction.

He stood around with a circle of other men for a bit, feeling out of place and understanding why the girl that morning had insisted on makeup; all of them were wearing some to a degree, and they eyed him as the odd man out.

"Who is that fellow?"

"Who?"

"The one that came in with Her Highness."

"Oh, his name is Torlose or something."

"Tilross?"

"That sounds right."

"I've never seen him before, where's he from?"

"Says he's a Viscount in the North?"

"What the hell is the princess doing with a Viscount?"

"At least he's not a Baron."

He wandered along the edge of the teeming mass, eyeing it warily, feeling horribly naked without a weapon. The edges of his vision were turning fuzzy and soft, and he had a good, light, _swaying_ sort of motion going on in his limbs. Zelda grabbed his hand, smiling, her eyes brighter and her lips red from punch.

"Come on! Show me your dance moves." She pulled him in close, putting her arms around his neck. Link hesitated before putting his hands on her waist, looking around to try and get a cue from the crowd. Zelda sighed in frustration and suddenly dipped down in a circle, coming up again close to his face. "Relax, Link! Nothing bad is going to happen!"

He nodded weakly, and she dipped again. This time when she came up, he held onto her tight, moving with her in and out, careful of her toes and the edge of her dress. They were pressed close together by the throng of people, and Link dared to pull her in a little more, his arms going around her waist. "There," she encouraged, "now you've got it."

They danced close, Link breathing gently on Zelda's face, his eyes low and focusing on her mouth, her neck, the edge of her dress. Zelda was staring at him, willing him to raise his eyes. When he did, hesitant, like he was avoiding it, she pulled him in and kissed him hard.

When the kiss broke, Link looked around, excited and feeling guilty all at once. Zelda grabbed his chin. "Link, don't worry about it." He nodded, a little dumbstruck. Zelda pulled him back in and kissed him again, holding him hostage with her arms around his neck, his arms around her waist, one hand creeping up to cup the back of her head and his fingers tangling in her hair. She finally let him back up for air, resting her cheek against his. They danced this way a little while longer, Link's heart pounding.

"Mm," Zelda mumbled against his ear. "I'm thirsty. I'm… gonna get a drink, do you want anything?"

"Ah, no, I'm alright," he replied. She nodded and detached herself from his grip, sashaying unevenly through the crowd to the refreshments table. Link stared after her, awkward and stuck in place. Thankfully, Ruto came up to rescue him, taking his hands and settling against him to dance.

"You and Zelda seem to have gotten pretty close," she muttered in his ear. Link tensed, and she grinned at him, winking. "Don't worry, I won't tell. Although I guess I should be sad to lose my fiancé." She poked his chest gently with one finger before laughing at Link's suddenly panicked face. "Don't worry! Everyone here is so drunk that I doubt many even care that you were both kissing pretty heavily. Aren't you her bodyguard, though?" Ruto was smirking, teasing him. Link looked away. She kissed his cheek lightly. "Go find your girl, alright Master Bodyguard?"

She helped push him out of the crowd, and Link used the opportunity to grab himself another drink and try to find where Zelda had wandered to.

The rest of the house was rather quiet, and just as impressive. Long woven tapestries lined the halls, along with massive paintings of what he assumed was the family that owned the building. Antique solid wood dressers, chairs, tables, velvet upholstered loveseats and couches were everywhere. He wandered for roughly fifteen minutes before he found Zelda sitting at such a table with a group of well-dressed women and men, playing cards and talking while they drank. She looked up in delight when she saw him, waving him over and using one leg to pull over a spare seat next to herself from a neighboring table.

"Link! Link! Sit down! I was just telling um… these folks about some of your adventures. Like um, Termina and that."

Link looked around the table at the rather unimpressed-looking group. They flipped their chips idly around, looking over the game. Zelda dealt a hand for Link, and he had a passing familiarity with it; it was one of the ways he'd made money before. So they started playing, and kept drinking, and Link started talking, all of it flowing back to him like a song.

-

"So I'm froze up, yeah, an' starin' down into the meaty gullet o' this massive Dodongo, th' king of all of 'em, an' he opens his jaws, an' he's got teeth like a damn table leg or sommat."

As Link had gotten more and more inebriated, his country accent had also become more and more profound. But his listeners had also become more and more spellbound, to the point where one of the women had long forgotten about her cigarette, a good inch or so of ash hanging on the end. Even Zelda was listening; she had not known about this.

"So, I get a bomb flower, righ', an' I heave it with all my strength, an' it slides down his gullet!"

"He swallowed it?" asked Cigarette Girl.

"Bloody swallowed it whole!"

"Then what?" asked one of the young men.

"Then… it went off, an'… well, y'ever planted a bomb flower field next to your cow pasture?"

The people around him had not, in fact, done any such thing, but still they shuddered and recoiled. Link took an offered cigarette and lit it with an equally offered match. He'd embellished a smidge, and changed some facts; told them all this was only a year or so ago, and that he'd fallen into the pit while exploring the northern lands with his father for a suitable place for their home.

Link sighed around his cigarette, exhaling smoke. "Yep, that's that." He put down his cards, revealing the best hand, a full strike. "I think I'll get some air now though, if ye don't mind. Your Highness, would you join me?" Zelda thanked them all for the conversation and stood up, following Link out, her eyes all wide with amazement. Once they were out of the room he lost the cigarette on the wood floor, crushing it under his boot.

Link was feeling good; he and Zelda popped into the main dance hall again, grabbed more drinks (two each) and snuck off again through the beautiful home. They got to the back of the house where few people (and guards) were, and settled down on the grand staircase leading to the gardens.

Link drank most of his first glass as they stared out at the gardens. "It's beautiful out here," Zelda spoke finally, sipping at her first drink.

"Yeah," Link muttered in agreement. They stared up at the stars, calming down, coming off the high of having kissed and danced and finally been able to be close to each other. Link got up from his sprawling spot on the stairs and went over to Zelda, stretching back out next to her. She smiled at him and put her hand on his.

"I'm glad that I could bring you to this," she spoke quietly.

Link looked up at her. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes."

Link stared at her for a few minutes before shifting and sitting up. He took her drink from her hand and set it down on one of the steps before pulling her close and kissing her again. Zelda sighed and wrapped her arms around him. He put his hands to her face, cupping it, moving his lips from hers to her forehead, the bridge of her nose, her cheeks just below her eyes, even her eyelids. Zelda worried the skin along his jawline with her teeth, kissing it lightly after. They stayed out there for a while, kissing until they were cold and their drinks were gone. Zelda sniffled, the icy air making her nose run, and they untangled themselves, getting up and heading back into the warm building.

-

More drinking, and more dancing. Link had a feeling he was far more drunk than he'd been the night the Grand Duke and Duchess had visited, but he felt better about it. This time he wasn't sick with worry and uncomfortable panic. They met up again with Ruto, lingering over a dessert tray and talking. A gentleman came up and greeted them, kissing Ruto's hand. He had a southern estate, and as such was good neighbors with the Zora population.

"Mm!" She finished licking a bit of chocolate from her hand, and gestured to Link and Zelda. "Ambrose, this is Her Highness and my friend Zelda, and this is our other friend, Link."

"Ah," said Ambrose in a cool tone. "You're the Viscount from the Northern area?"

Before either of them could reply, Ruto snorted and raised an eyebrow. "Link's not a Viscount."

Ambrose looked them over again. "Oh, no? Well," he muttered, turning and heading back into the crowd.

Zelda felt cold panic settle in her chest. Link stood frozen, his hand wrapped so tightly around his wine glass that it cracked.

"Ruto," Zelda whispered. Ruto looked towards her, calm and unconcerned.

"We've been telling everyone that Link is a Viscount so that he could stay as my bodyguard. Only nobility can be my bodyguard!" Her eyes were wide.

"Oh don't worry about it," Ruto replied, waving one hand. "Everyone here is so soused that I'm surprised they remember where they are."

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Seems someone's a bit of a fibber."

"Who?"

"Master Tolise."

"_Who_?"

"Her Highness' date!"

"Oh, I thought it was Telis."

"Anyway. Apparently he's master of nothing but tall tales."

"Oh really?"

"Indeed, I heard it from the Duchess of Farlon, who was talking to the Margrave of Ordos, who heard it from…"

Because of his staunch refusal to wear makeup or those awful shoes, Link had become an easy target to remember, and Ruto had grossly overestimated how inebriated the company was. Thankfully, Link kept himself wet with drink, so that he didn't really notice the whispers around him, or the blatant stares.

At around one in the morning, Zelda yawned and leaned heavily on Link's shoulder. He wasn't in much better condition, but managed to stay upright. They said their goodbyes to Ruto, who hugged them both tight, and staggered out into the front yard of the mansion. Zelda easily spied her carriage (the biggest and most beautiful, of course), and they struggled into it, the guards helping them in, but choosing instead to "perch on the back, in case of highway bandits, Your Highness."

Zelda considered it a blessing, and she wrapped her arms around Link, resting her cheek on his shoulder and closing her eyes. Link put his arm around her, pulling her in tight and resting his cheek on the top of her head. They rode like that all the way home, not really sleeping and not totally awake, but drunk and delirious and happy, and just a little bit in love.

-

The betting pools were mostly asleep around the kitchens by the time Zelda and Link got back to the castle. The kitchen door that they'd propped open had fallen shut, probably when a guard kicked it on accident while trying to avoid Cook's cleaver for being found cheating at cards, and they slept on, scattered around the kitchen with their heads on the tables or (in one person's case), a loaf of old bread.

The guards that followed them lingered outside to smoke and debate whether or not the princess and her guard had Done Anything, so Link, still drunk, had to help Zelda into the castle. She giggled and stumbled, going around barefoot and wearing holes in the feet of her stockings, carrying her shoes in the other hand. Link weaved and wobbled with her to the staircase leading to her rooms, and Zelda made a fake crying noise when they got there. "I have to climb all those staaaaaaaaiiirs," she moaned, flailing her arms.

"W… well I'll help you, okay Zelda?" Link offered. She put her arm around his waist, and he hers, and they climbed the stairs awkwardly like that, Link trying not to step on her dress and Zelda trying not to miss a step. When they finally got to her doors, Zelda pushed them open herself, wobbling.

"I'll uh, I'll see you in the morning, okay?" Link turned to make what would be for him a slow descent.

"No, wait," she groaned. "My dress… it… I can't sleep in it, and I can't undo it alone…"

Well, a very sound argument for him to stay. Link followed her into her private chambers and closed the door behind them. Zelda managed to get the front of her dress unlaced well enough, and Link pulled it off her shoulders from behind, carefully and slowly hanging it up in her wardrobe. He stared at her back when he turned around again, the curve of her shoulder blades and the narrow, tight, tapering waist.

"It unhooks," she mumbled, pointing with one awkward thumb. Link stepped forward, brushing his fingers along Zelda's back as he started to unhook the cream underdress, exposing more and more of Zelda's underpinnings as he went. Finally, it was unhooked, and she stepped out of the dress with a sigh, Link picking it up slowly and staring at Zelda as she bent over with a grumble, unhooking her stockings from her garter.

"Would you help me unlace my corset?" she mumbled. "They tie it so tight, it hurts to do it myself…"

If they had both not been so drunk, Link would have been convinced that she was doing this on purpose (and he would have been only half-right; Zelda was helpless once fully dressed) and would have refused when she first asked. But as it was, he wanted to let the maids sleep in for once, and he wanted to hang around her, to breathe her essence and be close, touching her.

Once her corset was unlaced, she unhooked the front, sighing and casting it off. Before she got her sleep shift on, Link stole a few glances, ones that he would definitely savor later. Zelda turned around when dressed and smiled sleepily at him, her lash stain having run a little, her hair disheveled as she started pulling out the long pins holding it in place. Link reached up and worked with her, watching as her hairdo slowly came apart, curls slowly falling over her shoulders. When they got them all, Link assuring her of this by running his fingers through her hair, Zelda pulled him close and hugged him, kissing his cheek. "Thank you for your help," she mumbled sleepily.

"You're welcome," he replied, hugging her back. Quickly, a hangover was starting to catch up with his drunkenness. "I should go," he added, taking Zelda over to her bed.

"Oh come on, let's talk."

"We can… we can have lunch together tomorrow, and then we'll talk. Okay?" A headache was starting its awful beat in tune to his heart at the back of his head.

Zelda sighed and rolled over. "Fine, we'll talk at lunch."

Link bent down and kissed her cheek, straightening again and heading to the door.

-

Down in the kitchens, one groggy maid stirred awake. She glanced at the sky, turning from black to a deep purple in the light of the rising sun, and gasped in horror. They hadn't been awake for the princess' reentry! Panicked, she woke up, kicking the person next to her on accident. They mumbled and cuddled back up with their empty ale mug.

The maid ran barefoot through the castle, taking the stairs to Zelda's room two at a time, though there was a cramp in her side and she couldn't breathe. So it was that she nearly ran into Link, who was trying to make a quiet exit. Both of them froze; the maid had been caught not doing her duty, and Link had been caught breaking one of the rules of never entering the princess' rooms alone. They stared at each other.

"We shall tell no one of this, okay?" Link finally whispered. The maid nodded her agreement and went into Zelda's rooms to straighten them, Link rushing down the stairs to his own.


	7. Chapter 7

Link managed, once he got to his rooms and at least took off his boots and jacket, to get some sleep. And he did, for an hour.

He was jolted awake again by the clanging of a sword on a metal bowl, and the guard captain's thunderous voice. Unfortunately for the guard captain, he was standing a little too close to Link's bed.

Link growled and flung one arm up, knocking the sword and the 'drum' out of the captain's hands. He got up on his feet and grabbed the sword from the air, flipping the blade around and pointing it at the captain's throat. The captain stepped back, and when Link realized _who _he was about to behead, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

"Oh Goddesses," he gasped.

His grip slackened, and the guard captain, having regained his cool, took the sword from Link's hands, slowly and deliberately sheathing it. He looked back up, locking eyes with the sleep-deprived, hungover, once-hero.

"All better, now?" the captain asked softly, his brow furrowed. Link stammered an apology as he climbed out of bed, stumbling to get his training outfit together. In minutes, he was downstairs with the other men, out on the field and attacking each other with heavy, bare branches. One was shoved into Link's hands when he got out there, and his partner clubbed him around the head and shoulders a few good times.

Link was getting irritated with himself for getting hit so many times, reacting so foolishly that morning, _and _for being hungover. So he fought back, baring his teeth. He parried the stick away and down, then up, striking him in the arm, then jabbing him in the chest once, twice, three times, swung the branch up, smacked him in the chin, and finally struck the shocked boy across the chest, knocking him down. A few of the other trainees slowed down, staring at the two in surprise.

"Viscount my ass," one of them grumbled.

-

Zelda finally woke up around noon, or a little after. By now Link had finished training and gotten washed up, and had immediately climbed back into bed to sleep the day away. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes and smearing around her makeup, so that it formed dark circles like a raccoon. Yawning, she rolled over and drank a cup of water that had long been sitting on her bedside dresser, pouring another and drinking that, too. When her dry throat and headache finally abated, she climbed out of bed and shuffled around, pulling on her robe and a pair of fur-lined house shoes. She took her time getting down the stairs and shuffling around to the kitchens, hoping there'd be something left over from breakfast.

The cooks were just as miserable as their princess, but still presented her with a warmed, day old sticky bun and some bitter coffee. It took four spoons of sugar to make it tolerable, and even then it tasted harsh and burnt on her tongue. Zelda took her pathetic breakfast to one of the many massive bay windows, sitting down in a convenient chair and leaving the cooks to whip up a simple lunch and nurse their hair of the dog. The day was overcast and miserable, mirroring her mood in a way that made her shake her head. The bun hardened as it got cold, so she really only got to eat half of it. Hungry, sore, and tired, she decided to go back to bed. She left the plate on a table with the barely drank coffee, wandering back to her hall. On the way, she saw two guards greeting someone at the door, and stopped to see. It was Ambrose, looking well-rested and sober. Zelda fixed her robe and walked over to greet him with a smile.

"Good day to you, Duke Holsten," she murmured, offering her hand.

He kissed the knuckles quickly and nodded. "Good day to you as well, Your Highness."

"Is this a social call? I confess I am surprised to see you looking so well after last night." Zelda folded her arms, trying to remember when she'd seen him, and why her stomach was filling with a cold dread.

"Actually, Your Highness, I have come to speak to His Majesty about something that I feel deserves his immediate attention." Ambrose looked around and leaned close. "There is a rumor that Master Tilsen is not whom he seems."

Zelda stared at him in bewilderment. "Who is Master Tilsen?"

Ambrose looked back, equally confused. "Your… your guard, Your Highness."

"Oh," said Zelda, nodding. Then, "Oh! Uh… what exactly is the nature of this rumor?"

"That Master Tilsen is not a-

"Tolrose."

"Tolrose?" Ambrose asked in surprise, suddenly uncertain.

Zelda recognized this, and smiled softly. "Yes, his last name is Tolrose. It sounds like you were sadly misinformed." She lifted her chin. At least now she could place why she felt terrified when she saw him, and remembered Ruto dropping the bomb. What else had happened last night? "Maybe you misheard about… my guard." She stepped up, slowly, the dread turning into strength. Though Ambrose was a little taller than her, it wasn't by much. "See, Ambrose," she cleared her throat, lowering her voice, "I… understand that people can be intimidated by something new, something different. Especially when it involves the highest level of the court, and it grossly overshadows others." She tilted her head with a smile. "But I don't think that gives any amount of leverage to silly, nasty little rumors born of envy. If I'm going to be queen someday, I need the trust of the court in my decisions, all of them. And some day… I'll also need… advisors." She picked a piece of lint from Ambrose's coat, eyeing it. "The lowest class of nobility that can be appointed to court positions are Dukes, right?"

Ambrose nodded, staring at her. "I... I believe so, Your Highness."

Zelda smiled again. "You're wrong. It's Grand Duke. But you might get there someday." She patted Ambrose's cheek. "Maybe you should leave court matters to those more knowledgeable, hm?"

She turned away, walking off, stopping at the kitchens to humbly request a packaged late lunch. Hopefully, Link would be awake by then.

-

Once back in her own rooms, her equally miserable maids bowed, having gotten together an outfit for the day. Zelda looked it over and sighed, shaking her head. "Girls… I… not today." She was impressed with herself for defeating Ambrose so coldly, but the closeness of that call had given her a scare. The last thing she wanted to do now was lose Link to… well, the truth. She sat down in the chair at her vanity, rubbing her temples with her fingertips.

"Dismissed," she mumbled, waving one hand. The room vacated slowly. Zelda took deep breaths, trying to keep her cool. She'd lucked out this one time, catching that suck-up Ambrose before he could get to her father. But there would be others like him with something to gain from exposing Link, a reward, a higher position, just an excuse to fall into the king's favor for revealing fraud under his own nose. Watching out for the country, as it was sure to be put by some.

As Zelda turned around to get up and find something more suitable to wear, little bits of the night floated back. She stared at her corset on the floor, and her dress hanging in the closet, one sleeve barely visible. Only the fact that Link was not at trial before herself and her father assured that they had not been caught.

-

Alcohol had been very kind to Zelda's memory, or she would have been embarrassed beyond belief.

It had not done so for Link, who woke up after an unexpectedly sensual dream to maids moving his things out of his rooms. "Uh, hey, wait, excuse me," he called out, kicking his way out of bed and stopping to put on a pair of dark pants before chasing after the girl, nearly running into another one. "Where… where are my things going?"

The maid, holding one of his folded coats, bowed to him before explaining. "The guard captain does not approve of having to come and wake you separately every morning like a…" What were the words? "A… pampered child. It demoralizes your fellow soldiers. You are to bunk in the training barracks like the others. His words, good sir, I swear it."

This was only part of it. After practice that morning, the guard captain had immediately reported to His Majesty and told him of Link's dangerous ability. "He nearly beheaded me, Your Majesty."

"Well then," the king muttered around his pipe as he sorted his affairs for the day, "I'd say his ability will only make him a more effective soldier!"

"Your Majesty, with all due respect," the captain added, "I am… somewhat concerned about this young man. The princess herself seemed eager to have him guard her, but even she does not know much about him. He came out of nowhere, and do you even remember appointing a viscounty to a Tolrose, recently?"

The king narrowed his eyes. "Captain, as you can see, I am a very busy man. I cannot possibly be expected to remember giving out every little position to a man with the money for it. I trust my daughter's decision, and I recommend you do the same." He hesitated, the guard captain still standing by his desk. Softly, the king added, "Watch him more closely. Put him in with the other trainees, if you have to. I still think he could be very valuable to this kingdom's defense, and it would be a sad day if I had to dismiss someone with such skill." The captain bowed and took leave, issuing the order to the surly, miserable maids.

"Probably a good idea," one muttered to the other as they folded Link's clothes, minutes before he was to awake and catch them pawing through his things, "moving him. Easier to keep an eye out."

"Oh?" asked the other as she shook out a wadded up shirt, jumping back from a leather bag full of rock-like seed pits that fell out.

"Well," she whispered with a grin, "I caught him leaving her highness' rooms this morning."

The other girl's jaw dropped open. "You're lyin'."

"Think about it," she responded calmly. "She had to get out of her dresses somehow, especially the under dress."

"Do you think he helped her with her underthings, too?"

The first girl shrugged, grinning. "But I promised not to tell, so don't spread it around, alright?"

"Oh no, of course not."

-

After they finished moving Link's things, both girls ran to the kitchens, one trying to get ahead of the other. The girl who'd not seen Link, name of Delia, burst through the door first, but her coworker Addie was not far behind.

"I WON, I WON," they both screamed. The cooks fell silent and stared at the two girls.

"What?" the oldest one, Mellie, asked.

"I won!" started Delia.

"You did not, you slag! I told you what happened!" Addie snapped in return.

"Oh you're just jealous!"

"You're a liar!"

"Girls!" Mellie snapped at them. Both fell quiet, glowering at each other.

"Now, what happened?"

Delia cleared her throat. "I woke up early this morning and went to go wake her highness for breakfast, and Master Tolrose was leaving her rooms all in disarray! He begged me not to tell anyone what happened."

Addie shook her head, frowning. Mellie looked over at her. "Go on."

"I woke up early this morning and realized we all slept through Her Highness' return home, and I ran up to her rooms to apologize to her and beg forgiveness. But when I got up there, Master Tolrose was leaving her rooms, still looking very inebriated and off-balance. Also, his hair was messed up and he had lipstick on his face. He made me swear not to tell in exchange for keeping silence about us not being awake to help Her Highness undress."

Mellie looked back and forth. "Well… let me think about this." She stroked her chin, rocking on her feet. "I suppose… the only way we can solve this problem is to ask Master Tolrose himself who he saw this morning."

"Oh please!" cried Addie. "I promised him I wouldn't tell! He'll be mad and I'll probably get fired!"

Delia sighed angrily, easily guilted. "Fine, fine, it's Addie's money." She pouted and folded her arms, and Mellie grinned.

"Well, Delia, as punishment fer lying, you get to clean the slop troughs for the pigs. Addie, let's go get your money from the betting box."

They got the box of money from under the loose hearthstone on the edge of the fireplace, and Mellie started counting it out, Addie opening her purse.

"So you know for certain that they… slept together? Because that was the bet, yeah? They had to do it."

Addie tensed. "Umm… nnno… I'm not. It was roughly four in the morning when I went upstairs… but I'm not sure when they got home."

Mellie nodded, stopping and putting the money away. "Drake and Thom went with them last night on the way, we'll ask them when they got in."

She put the box back, locking it up tight and walking with Addie towards the soldiers barracks, where Drake and Thom were still asleep.

Mellie poked Thom awake, and he snorted, stirring. "Whu."

"Thom, is Mellie. What time did y'all get in last night?"

"Ungh… 'round four," he groaned, rolling over. Mellie jabbed him again, and he swore, waking up more this time. "What!"

"Did they fool around in the cab?"

"Not that we heard, besides we'd have told you right quick."

Addie swore, and Mellie nodded, letting Thom roll over and back to sleep. "Alright dear, not today. Must've been innocent." She patted Addie's hair and they left to go about their chores for the day.

-

Zelda knocked on Link's door twice before opening it. Looking around and seeing that it was totally empty, she panicked. She dashed into the main hall and grabbed the first maid she found. "Where's Master Tolrose?" she asked in a strained voice.

"Your Highness, he was moved to the barracks this morning."

Zelda nodded and let the girl go, walking quickly on the balls of her feet to the barracks, near the main door of the castle. Panic was making her feel dizzy, and she forced herself to relax and take three deep breaths before knocking on the barracks doors. Someone opened them, a young soldier in training, and he bowed deeply to Zelda. "Good day, Your Highness."

She swept in, looking around, and spied Link on a bunk against a wall, stretched out asleep. "Good day," she muttered in return as she walked over, reaching out with her left hand to wake Link up.

"Your Highness, I wouldn't do-" The soldier fell silent as Link jolted once, but rolled over with a calm, sleepy face.

"Oh, g'morning Z.. Your Highness." He yawned, covering his mouth with one hand.

"I was wondering if you would care to join me for a late lunch within the hour, Master Tolrose."

"Oh sure, sure," he replied. "I haven't eaten much today so far, I'll meet you uh… in the main hall?"

"That will be fine," Zelda said with a nod. She turned and swept out again, quickly, nodding once to the young soldier on her way.

"Bruiser, what sorta magic does she have over you?" he asked Link incredulously.

Was _everyone _calling him that now? Link shrugged. "I'm not really sure."

-

Zelda finally bothered to put on a corset, but she put on one of the more comfortable cotton ones, suitable for lazing around the castle, under a cotton gown in dark red, with her soft yellow robe overtop once more. It was still raining, so she and Link set up their lunch near the bay window where she'd eaten her miserable breakfast.

Lunch was a little better, all cold cuts, cheese, even two small crocks of simple soup, and hot tea and water. They sat at the table, Zelda relaxed and sinking into the massive high back chair she occupied. Link stared at his meal and not at her.

"Why are you in the barracks now?" she asked him in a low voice.

"The reasoning is that it shows uh… favoritism to the other soldiers by letting me sleep in my own room. But…" Link tapered off, unsure if he should tell Zelda what happened that morning.

"But what?" She sat up.

Link shifted his feet, tapping them around on the floor. "Umm… well, the guard captain has been wakin' me by hitting a big metal bowl with a sword. And… well, it startled me, so I grabbed the sword from him and almost, uh…"

Link didn't have to finish. Zelda stared at him, her lips pursed and her eyes wide. "You are lucky you are not currently being accused of treasonous acts," she whispered. "You threatened to kill the captain."

"I'm definitely building up quite the list of broken rules," Link mumbled, looking at her. The corner of Zelda's mouth twitched, and she looked away, reluctant to talk about kissing him. That little she remembered, and Ambrose, and then getting in the carriage, and then warmth, but little else until she woke up in her night dress, her corset carelessly discarded on the floor near her stockings.

They sat there in silence. It was about that time in the conversation, anyway. Zelda stared out at the rainy day, and Link stared at his hands. He thought about kissing her. Not right now, they were out in broad view of everyone in the castle, and they weren't exactly tucked away in a low traffic area. But where could they be alone to do it again? Would it be too risky unless they were locked away in another ball, surrounded by drunk partiers? Link touched his lower lip with his thumb, thinking about it.

Zelda swirled the tea around in her cup as she tried to make a list of all the rules, exactly, that Link had broke. Well first off, he was her guard and not of the upper echelon of society (yet, she was working on it), he had romantic inclinations towards her, had… had he followed her up the stairs? Didn't he? It came back in little patches; the dress, the kissing, her near nakedness and actually asking him to join her in bed—

Zelda turned bright red and made a little sound of alarm. Link looked up from picking at his nails. "What's wrong?"

She looked over at him, then towards the entrance a dozen times to make sure they were not being watched, and back towards him. "Did… did you really follow me to my rooms last night?" Her voice was barely audible.

Link raised his eyebrows. "You… don't remember?" A nasty little joke came to mind, and Link leaned over, whispering low. "Zelda, you… was I that terrible?"

"Terrible at what?" she asked, all wide-eyed and dreading it.

"Well, we… made love," he answered, resting one hand on the arm of her chair.

Zelda cupped her face with her hands, looking truly alarmed. "Link!" she whispered in a high-pitched rasp. "Please tell me you're joking! Please!" She looked so frightened that he ended his joke quickly.

"I'm joking, really, we didn't—I didn't do anything uncouth to you." He reached and squeezed her hand. "I promise. I … well I helped you undress and tucked you in, that's all."

"So you saw me naked?!"

"Well no, I turned away." He hadn't, but she wasn't fully naked, so he figured it cancelled out.

Zelda groaned and buried her face in her hands again. "That's just as bad! Did anyone see you leave?!"

Here, he could not lie. "Yeah, a maid caught me leaving your rooms, but she swore not to tell anyone."

She uncovered her face, staring at him. "Who?"

"Just… one of the girls, I don't know her name or anything."

Zelda stood and smoothed her dress. "Come with me, we're going to find her."

-

As they roamed the castle halls, Zelda tried to push Link for information. "What color hair?" she asked.

"I tell ya, I couldn't tell. It was dark and I was startled."

"How tall was she?"

"Shorter than me by a head."

"Alright, that narrows it down…" Zelda bit her thumbnail, tense and worried. "… but not by much."

They wandered the castle as nonchalantly as possible, peeking in the library room, the trophy room, and even glancing out at the back porch, but only finding the carriage driver and one of the stable hands smoking in the rain. By dinner, they still had not found her.

Zelda was in a state of worry at dinner, picking idly at her food. Link, for all his concern, was still hungry (lunch had been meager, especially on top of his training) and ate heartily.

Zelda's father noticed his daughter's reluctance and patted her hand. "Dear Daughter, are you well?"

"Yes, Father. Just… thinking."

"How was the ball?" he asked, wiping his mouth on one napkin.

"It was very enjoyable. Princess Ruto was there, as well as Duke Orlan's son from one of the further south duchies, we actually played cards with Marquise Balvinne's son and daughter."

"Ah!" The king nodded with a smile. "How did you do at that?"

"Master Tolrose soundly beat us all, actually. I was unaware he was such an accomplished cardplayer." Zelda looked at Link and smiled, as did the king with a nod.

"Very good, very good."

Link smiled back, clearing his throat. "Just… one of my hobbies, really."

"And you've already got a nickname among the men, they call you Bruiser."

Tension started crawling along Link's spine, and he cleared his throat. "Yes…"

"I have also heard you're… hard to wake in the morning."

Link laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah, something like that."

"You've shown great promise at practice, as well."

Link looked at Zelda, who shrugged one shoulder. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"I've got my eye on you," the king added, nodding at Link.

Link smiled and nodded, but he wasn't sure if the king meant it as a compliment or a threat.

-

Zelda was ashamed that she hadn't thought of it sooner. If it was one of the girls that tended her rooms exclusively, Link could pick her out of a group of them.

After dinner, she corralled Link in a hallway, holding him tight by the arm. "Alright. I know how we'll find her. They're going to help me change for bed tonight—

"But you're… already in your pajamas, right?"

Zelda folded her arms and tilted her head, staring at him. Link cleared his throat and stepped back. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Anyway," she said after a pause. "When they leave, you watch them go, and single out the one that you ran into. We'll just walk to my rooms like nothing is wrong, but you'll sneak up there after they follow me in, okay?"

Link nodded. "Alright. That sounds… good. That should work."

-

Well, they were wrong about what Addie's job actually was. She was one of the newest girls, learning the ropes of the castle and her tasks. Eager to make a good impression, she had run to greet the princess and assure that all her needs were met the night of (or morning after) the ball, running into Link on the way. And as a catch-all helper for any task, she was one of the few who hadn't drank as much, which led her to helping Delia shuttle Link's clothes and paraphernalia to the barracks, loaded carefully into a massive steamer trunk under his bed.

Their plan, otherwise, worked. Link waited at the bottom of the stairs just around the corner, pretending to read a book. They hardly gave him a second glance. He looked at each one, but none rang a bell. Zelda slipped downstairs after a few minutes, frowning when she saw Link sitting there. "Did you see her?"

"No, she wasn't there."

"Damn," Zelda grumbled, folding her arms. Link looked at her, and though her hair was brushed and her face cleaned, he noticed that she was still in the clothes she was wearing all day. He decided not to bring it up. "Maybe… maybe she looked different because you were inebriated, right? So if you get… if we get drunk again, it might… jog your memory?"

Link tilted his head. "Look, Zelda, I'm starting to think you just want me drunk all the time."

"How dare you!" she cried in reply. "I'm just trying to suggest that… maybe—"

"Zelda, Zelda, calm down, I'm just trying to make a joke."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I just… I've been under stress, between Ambrose coming around and maids finding out."

Link nodded, stopped, processed what she said, and looked up again. "What? Who came?"

Zelda sighed. "The gentleman that Ruto blabbed to last night. He came around to tell my father what he heard. Thankfully no one at that party got your last name right."

Link had no idea until this moment how close he was to losing his head. "Zelda, I don't think that… that we should do this anymore."

"What?" She stepped back.

Link shook his head. "We can't… meeting for lunch, hanging around each other. I care deeply for you, but I don't want to die."

"I don't want you to die either!" she whispered. "But we can't just stop now; it'll seem unnatural."

"You have to find a fiancé," he replied.

Zelda frowned. "That has nothing to do with this! Do you honestly think I've been putting that off hoping that somehow we can be together? I'm realistic, Link! I know what we can and cannot do!"

That wasn't entirely true. Zelda had, in fact, been lingering just for that reason, in some half-baked hope that somehow he would come storming in like a knight and sweep her off her feet.

"I've got to go," Link finally muttered. "Gotta… get up early for tomorrow."

"How are you doing with that?" Zelda replied. "I mean, do you like it?"

Link thought about it, slowly nodding. "Yeah. I think it's a good fit for me. Probably should've done it from the beginning."

Zelda sighed and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Alright. Have a good night." They smiled at each other, and Link turned, heading to the barracks.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, a far better day weather-wise, Link and Zelda waited around near the doors to the garden for their basket lunch. Tragically for her, Addie was the one to bring it to them. Zelda took the basket with a murmur of thanks, and Link gasped as the girl was turning. "Her!" he cried.

Addie stopped cold and turned slowly around. Zelda raised her eyebrows, looking the girl over. "Alright then. Come with us."

Addie, terrified, followed them outside to their usual spot in the gardens, silently serving out their lunch.

"I understand that you might have seen something compromising the other night," Zelda spoke softly, spreading some soft cheese over a croissant.

Addie looked at Link, then back to the princess. "Yes, Your Highness. I… might have seen… something."

"I don't think you did," Zelda replied. "I think you just had a little too much that night, and maybe had a silly dream about winning that bet." She took a drink of tea that Addie poured for her. "Does that sound right to you?" She looked up at Addie.

Addie took in a deep breath and nodded once, slowly. "Yes, Your Highness."

Zelda turned back to her lunch, waving one hand. "Dismissed."

Addie, in a state of cold fear, turned and headed back inside. Link stared at Zelda. "You're… quite ruthless. I think she was about to cry."

Zelda set down her teacup in its saucer. "Link, if we have any hope to continue keeping this a secret, we have to head off little problems like these. That requires dealing with it harshly, especially as the princess and their future queen. Understand?"

"Yeah, I get it." Link bit into a slice of bread smeared with butter, thinking. "There's a bet?"

-

Late night, most of the chores done for the day, and the staff sat around in the kitchens, enjoying the last of the opened barrel's contents and talking amongst themselves. Delia was laughing with others about how it wasn't long until the princess and her guard were found in a compromising position.

"I mean just two days ago, Addie-" here she pointed to the new girl, sitting across from her and clinging to her mug, "she saw Master Tolrose leaving the princess' rooms the night of the ball."

"Oh did you?" asked another girl with a gasp.

Addie looked at Delia and then down at her drink. "No, no, I made it up to impress you." She took a long drink. Delia was stunned, and the girls rolled their eyes, getting up and walking to the men's table to join in their card games. Delia leaned over, her eyes flashing mutinously.

"You told me you saw them!"

"I also told you that was in confidence!" Addie slapped her mug down hard on the table. "Honestly, Delia, did you not hear me say that or something?" She shook her head and stood up, walking away and heading to her shared room. She didn't want to look at her anymore. Addie set her chin as she walked. She might be ruining her chances at the pot, for certainly Delia would tell Mellie that she'd lied, and Addie would be figured for a liar from then on, not to be trusted if she claimed she caught the pair, but now she was angry, and vowed silently to help Zelda and Link sneak off whenever she could somewhere private, even if they didn't ask, and spoil anyone else's chances of getting that money.

-

The next morning, as Zelda was getting ready to face the day, Addie delivered a note to her rooms. "His Majesty wishes to let you know that you shall both be heading out today, to Archduke Golliet's estate."

Zelda remembered the name, but had trouble placing why. "He has… a son. Of course." She nodded. "Marcus Golliet. It seems Father's getting a bit impatient." She applied her own lash stain, Addie still standing there. "Go see that Master Tolrose is dressed to head out with us."

"Yes, Your Highness." Addie bowed and rushed away to get Link ready.

She got him there quickly, a cream, loose blouse, dark red vest under a matching jacket, and khaki breeches with dark brown boots. Quickly, they rushed into the carriage, and Link nearly sat on Zelda. "Ah! Am I late?" he asked, embarrassed as he sat next to her. The seat across from theirs was the king's, and only he could sit in it, no matter what.

"No, no, I barely just got in here myself." Zelda smoothed her dress, a lighter pink one this time, over a pale yellow skirt with elbow sleeves that ended in a short box pleated ruffle. "Father shouldn't be much longer."

Addie gently shut the door to the carriage, skittering off with a smile to herself. She would happily play matchmaker any way she could.

They sat there, alone in the carriage, very uncomfortable. "So um, I confess I've no idea where we're going," Link muttered.

Zelda raised her eyebrows. "She didn't tell you?"

"No."

"We're going to see Archduke Golliet."

"Who's he?"

"He owns a duchy in the western estates. I like him. He's a rather amicable man. He keeps a good connection with the Gorons for us."

"Ah." Link shuffled his feet, looking out the carriage at the castle. What was taking His Majesty so long? "Why are we seeing him today?"

"He has a son," Zelda said simply.

"Like, a recent son, or…?"

"No, our age."

Despite what he was just telling her the other day, now he was feeling conflicted. He sort of wanted her to stay alone forever, with him by her side, as appropriate as it could be for them.

They waited for ten or so minutes, sitting uncomfortably in the cramped little carriage.

"Is he a good man?"

"Who, the Archduke?"

"His son."

Zelda nodded. "He's… he's good. Very kind, very honest."

"Well then, I might like him too." Link nudged Zelda with his elbow and grinned. "Come on, don't look so gloomy 'bout it, eh? You gotta find a king."

"Will you stay, when I get married?" Zelda relaxed as they talked about it, feeling good.

"If I can. I'd like to stick around as a soldier. I like it." He leaned back, stretching his legs.

"Do you? I thought they ribbed you, all the time?"

"Well yeah but they rib everyone all the time. It's how it is down there."

They wanted to talk more, but the door opened and the king walked in, Link immediately forcing himself to stand and doing so, awkwardly. The king looked at Link in surprise; he had not, actually, been intending to bring him along. "Master Tolrose?" He eyed him in suspicion, glancing at Zelda.

"Hello, Your Majesty," he greeted, his eyes low. The king sat down, and Link slowly lowered himself.

"I was unaware you were to join us, Master Tolrose."

Link and Zelda looked at each other in alarm. "I apologize, Your Majesty, I thought I was gonna be… if not, I'm sorry, I'll uh, I'll—

"No, no, stay," the king replied, waving one hand.

It took an hour, and the whole time they traveled in awkward silence. The king studied Link. He'd seen him at dinners, but just seen. Now he was really looking, his eyes narrowed. But try as he might, he could not detect this mastermind killer, the deadly swordsman lurking inside of the awkward boy.

This made Link very uncomfortable. He sat as pressed into the corner and far from Zelda as was possible, staring out the window at their surroundings.

-

The Archduke's home looked very new. In fact, while he was one of the people Ganondorf had arrested for treason and put in his dungeon in one time, in the current one he'd been able to buy the last open splotch of land before the Goron's territory, and build a gorgeous house on it, soft pink walls and a red tiled roof to match the Death Mountain's colors. Once again, he was amazed by the massive home. The Archduke, an older man with graying hair dressed in dark green, his son, and his daughter were waiting outside for them. The guards helped Zelda out first, then the king, and then Link clambered out awkwardly.

They greeted each other, the Archduke introducing his son, Corbin, and his dau—

"My wife, Penelope."

The Archduchess was _easily _half the Archduke's age. She smiled kindly at all of them, her arm around her husband's possessively. Her hair was piled up high and blond, but her clothes were very tasteful, all in soft green. Link kissed her hand politely, and turned his attention to the son, Corbin. Corbin was dressed in red in sharp contrast to his parents. He had dark hair, like his father once might've. He smiled all around at them, shaking Link's hand after kissing the king's ring and Zelda's hand.

The Archduke turned to lead them on a tour of the home. Everything was all tile and stucco, flat stone floor (which surprised Link), and massive couches and chairs of leather. There was wooden furniture too, pale pine and stained red maple. Looking around it all made Link tempted to go for the retirement instead of being a soldier, so that he could build a beautiful home like this.

They convened in the main den for lunch, a little more elaborate than the ones Link had been having with Zelda. Salad starters, soup, and then seared steak sliced thin and layered over loose pasta, topped with diced tomatoes. The king chatted amicably with the Archduke and Archduchess, Corbin sitting across from Zelda and diagonally from Link.

"I hope," Corbin started, his voice low, "that perhaps I can entertain you two with a tour of our gardens out back. It borrows some of the natural flora of the area."

"That sounds lovely," Zelda returned. "Where did you live before here?"

"We had a little place in the north, actually, on the west coast. Really cold, but the ocean made it worth it; breathtaking views. I actually really miss it. It's too dry around here." He laughed a bit, and Zelda nodded.

She stirred her drink as she asked, "I actually have not been to the oceans in some time. I cannot possibly imagine how you must miss it having lived there for so long. Did you move because of your father's remarriage?"

Corbin frowned in confusion. "Excuse me?"

Zelda gestured with her chin to the Archduchess. "Your… stepmother, right?"

Corbin laughed nervously. "She's my mother!"

Link narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "Her?"

Corbin laughed again. "Yes, yes, I swear to you, she's my own mother!"

Zelda shook her head. "I'm impressed with her youthfulness, I shall have to ask her for her secrets."

Corbin smiled at the princess. "I doubt you'd need them."

Link narrowed his eyes again. So—it was _that_ kind of visit. Big surprise.

-

After lunch, they did go out to the gardens. At first, the Archduke had been reluctant, looking at Zelda and Corbin, but the king waved them on. "Master Tolrose will be going with them, I am not worried."

Link was offended, and wondered if it would make a difference if he had not come. The king, he figured, put more faith in the honesty and virtue of someone with a lofty title than someone his daughter believed in. He had no idea that the king had been searching for the records of giving Link's imaginary father a viscounty, and his inability to find it was expanding his suspicion of the deadly young man.

But all three of them toured the gardens anyway, Zelda walking alongside Corbin, and Link not far behind. Corbin, to his credit, was trying to include Link, stepping back now and again to tell him about the imported hundred-year old yucca, or the cacti that only bloomed once every five years. All three wandered around aimlessly.

"So, Master Tolrose," Corbin started. He was a little off-put by Link's silence and protective demeanor of the princess, but he was trying. "Where does your family hail from?"

"My… father owns a viscounty," Link mumbled. He hadn't repeated the story much in the past few days, and had almost put it out of his mind. "Near the.. north coast."

"Oh!" Corbin brightened. Something they could talk about together! "We actually moved down from the north coast. Whereabouts are you from up there?"

"A… uh, very far north, pretty cold up there, but on the coast." He looked at Zelda, but she couldn't remember the story too well either.

"Did you know um…" Corbin tapped his chin. "Did you know Marquess Dillone?"

"Uhh, no, we just got the viscounty a year ago."

"Ah, alright. What made you come back down this way?"

Link looked at Zelda, a little longer this time. "Money. Find a job, something to occupy my time."

Corbin nodded. "Understandable enough, ey?" He grinned and slapped Link on the back, and for a second Link could see himself wheeling, grabbing Corbin by the arm and throwing him into the ground, all nerves. "Tell me, do you like to play cards?"

-

They'd gone back inside, where Corbin got a pack of playing cards and a round of wine for all, the king and his parents still meandering the castle and discussing… whatever they'd came here to discuss. Probably ensuring the Gorons were happy or that their son would happily marry Zelda.

"You play Haymaker?" Corbin asked as he shuffled the cards. Link couldn't help but grin a bit; it was the game he had played so well at the ball.

"I have a passing familiarity," he said with a shrug. Zelda looked back and forth between the two men and rolled her eyes. Well, at least they weren't dueling or something truly deadly.

Link checked his cards, sighing through his nose. He had a good hand. Corbin gestured to Zelda. "Ladies first."

Zelda smiled sweetly and laid down a Duke of Round. Corbin gestured to Link. He laid down his worst card, the Duchess of Round. The whole time, his eyes were on Corbin, looking for his tell. Corbin shifted his weight, going from leaned back to forward. He thought it an easy victory. With a sigh, he laid down a good card, the Emperor of Cross. Corbin picked up all the cards and began to reshuffle. Now he started, laying down the Emperor again, alongside the Duchess of Cross. In response, Zelda laid down a Queen of Cross. Link retorted with a double whammy; the Duke and Duchess of Coin. He grinned and picked up the cards.

The concept of Haymaker was to collect as many of the other player's cards as possible, using them to build upon combinations of more successful defeating 'pairs' or 'triplets', building levels of stronger cards. Round was the lowest, then Cross, then Coin, then Star. A successful triplet would be a Duke, King, and Emperor of Round, but all three could be wiped out by one Emperor of Coin. Pairs were only admissible if they were 'mated' cards, and a Duke and Duchess of Coin could take out an Emperor of Star, as they were doubled. But if it was mismatched, like Corbin's Emperor and Duchess, the cards went to the one with the higher suit. The rarest hand to deal, though, was a full strike. Six cards it took; the Emperor and Empress, King and Queen, and Duke and Duchess. Preferably of Star.

Link had gotten so good at Haymaker that his personal record against one other person was six rounds. He'd gotten both the Empress _and_ the Emperor of Star, and the poor drunk bastard that challenged him had no hope for a win, but kept laying down bigger and bigger combinations of cards that Link swept up easily.

They played in near silence for an hour, slapping down cards after cards. Link had been so focused on trying to find Corbin's tells that he didn't notice until he was down to two cards, his sad little Duke and Duchess of Coin. He looked across at Corbin, realizing he only had one card; surely victory was his!

Link laid down his pair, Corbin laid down his one; King of Cross. Zelda, in silence, laid down a pair; Emperor and Empress of Star, then a second pair, King and Queen of Star, then a third…

She grinned triumphantly as she swept the cards in, neatly piling them up into a stack until they were orderly. She took the last drink of her wine and nodded at both of them. "Let us make sure our parents are not getting into too much mischief, yes?" Link and Corbin looked at each other, realizing with shame how competitive they had been acting over a silly card game. "_Boys_," she sighed.

-

The king, the Archduke, and the Archduchess had actually done little but discuss general affairs; the borders were safe, and the Archduke had it from Darunia himself that Death Mountain was a calmed beast, the Dodongos that had been plaguing them had actually been beaten back several years ago. "By a young man named Link, I think they said, very young, only ten or so."

The king laughed. "These children are only getting more deadly! A good sign for our military. I shall have to find this fellow and shake his hand!"

Zelda, Link, and Corbin entered just after this point. The Archduke nodded and greeted them in. "We were just telling His Majesty about the young boy who allegedly defeated the Dodongo overpopulation some years back."

Zelda and Link glanced at each other, and Corbin laughed. "That's a good story! One of my favorites."

The king looked towards his daughter. "How were the gardens?"

"They were quite beautiful," Zelda immediately spoke up, folding her hands together. "I was quite impressed, I did not think that there could be such beautiful things near the mountain."

"I hope that soon we will have more beautiful things here," Corbin hinted.

Zelda turned to him and smiled, but it was her baring-the-teeth smile. He wasn't a bad person, just a little overeager to win the princess with flattery. It annoyed her.

Archduke Golliet invited everyone outside, while dinner was prepared, to a patio at the side of the manor. The garden continued even here, but there was a wide patio with a table and comfortable chairs. They settled themselves around the table, and were brought drinks to tide them over before dinner. Link was silent, looking around at everyone. Even with a few months of living at the court, he was on uneven ground. Zelda looked over at him, winking once. He smiled to himself, sitting back and drinking the offered wine. He was feeling good.

-

After dinner, the king was feeling pretty good. He had the most to drink, and watched down the table, past Link elaborating some story to the spellbound Archduchess, and Corbin talking amicably with Zelda.

"You think they're a good pair?" the Archduke asked him in a low tone.

"I think they have great potential, yes," the king replied. "But of course, that's truly up to her. I want her to be happy as well."

The Archduke sipped his wine. "Penelope and I, we were arranged by her parents."

The king looked at the Archduchess, leaning into Link's story.

"She disliked me at first, claimed I was too old, not good enough. But she learned, overtime, that I was good for her."

The king looked, one final time, at the Archduchess and then Corbin. Blond, dark hair, and the Archduke's light blond hair streaked with grey.

"I bet she did," he finally spoke with a smile, sipping his wine.

The Archduchess nodded, agape like a girl as Link was finishing his story. "So I took my sword, and crouched down low right, and snap! I brought it right into the evil bugger's eye, bringin' her down an' finishin' her off."

"My goodness!" Penelope gasped. "You're so courageous! That reminds me of the story the funny little mountain people told us about a little boy who defeated the lizard king." She paused to take a sip of wine. "I wonder if you know of him at all? I think you two would be very good friends!"

Link smiled uneasily at her, looking away.

Over on Zelda's side of things, it was nearly as awkward.

"I think that you are a wonderful person, Your Highness," Corbin was saying. "You're beautiful, you're intelligent… I would be honored to be your king someday, you know?"

Zelda tilted her head. "Well thank you, Corbin. I am flattered you feel that way. But of course there are many such eligible bachelors all over Hyrule. However, I'll keep you in mind."

"Oh, oh, of… course," Corbin replied, nodding. Zelda took a long drink of her wine, averting her eyes.

-

Finally, as the sun was slowly setting and stars began dotting the purple sky, they took leave of their kind hosts. Corbin helped Zelda into the carriage, Link trying not to roll his eyes. Then the king, and finally Link, scrambling in next to Zelda. All waited at least ten minutes until finally, the king, shaking his head, spoke up. "Can't believe that's his first wife."

Zelda flung her hands up in the air. "Yes! I'm surprised! I honestly thought—

"Oh, I know, I though it…" added Link, laughing.

The king laughed, shaking his head. It was the first time Link got to see the king relaxed and calm.

The laughter subsided quickly in the carriage though, and Zelda picked at a loose bead on her dress. "Father…" she started.

The king looked up.

"I didn't really like Corbin." Her face was pained, as if she knew his reaction.

He sighed heavily and rubbed his face with his hands. "Zelda, honestly. He's the fifth one…"

"I know, I know, I know," she cried. "But… he's nice but he's trying too hard."

"Well of course he's trying too hard, he's trying to impress you!" the king replied, his voice kicking up in anger.

"I wish he wouldn't, I don't need to be impressed. I'm a fecking princess!"

"Watch your tongue!" he snarled, surprised. Zelda was not the type to use vulgar language.

Link wriggled, uncomfortable in this very private argument.

-

The rest of the carriage ride was dead silent. Zelda stepped out first, helped along by the guards. In the few seconds before he was escorted out, the king looked at Link. "Too bad she can't marry you, you're the only man she's actually liked so far."

Link raised his eyebrows in surprise as the king made his way out of the carriage.

"W… why can't she marry me, if she wants to?" he stuttered as he climbed out of the carriage, trying to catch up to his majesty. Zelda was a little ways ahead of them, at the doorway to the castle. "We've been through a great deal together, and I know her, a lot, like—

Had he said too much? The king looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Uhh…" Link stumbled, backpedaling rapidly. "That she and I, in the… in the few months I've been here, that…" Finally; it was the lamest thing he could think of. "She taught me how to dance, Your Majesty. Maybe not personally, you know, but… I learned for her. And, she trusts me, implicitly, she… we share something, I think."

Both of them had stopped walking halfway to the door. Zelda was staring at them, her palms growing hot in her gloves. Why had they stopped? What was Link saying? Why did her father look so surprised?

"Have you met my daughter before?" the king asked in a low voice.

Link swallowed. "No, Your Majesty." Another lie. "But, if I may ask you again, why couldn't the princess marry me? If, if she so wanted."

"Because you're just a poor soldier, really. Your father's selling the viscounty, which strips you of that title, and only distantly related to a Marchioness or… whatever." The king looked at him with what Link would have liked to believe was sympathy. "I no longer wish to discuss this with you, as it is none of your business, and if you say anything more about it, I'll start to suspect you harbor feelings for my daughter."

They trudged onward, Link folding his arms. Zelda looked back and forth between the two men when they got to her, but neither looked eager to tell her their conversation.

The king went to bed early, as was his habit. Link _was_ heading to bed early, but Zelda sent a note urging him to meet her at the patio before the gardens, and Link sighed, heading out there.

Zelda rushed over when he came out, her face all stricken with worry. "What were you two saying to each other?" she spoke before he could even greet her.

Link shifted uncomfortably. "Um. He… he regrets that…" He studied his hands. "That I couldn't marry you."

Zelda was stunned, staring at him. "He said that."

"Yeah."

"Did he say why you couldn't?"

Link stepped back. "Girly, I…" He sighed. "Cus since…" he gestured along with his words, "my father is selling the viscounty, I lose that title. Not a noble, just a soldier. I suspect I'm only stayin' your guard cus it'd be too hard to find a replacement." He tried to chuckle, to make a laugh out of it.

Zelda stepped forward, taking Link's hands. "I can't replace you with anyone." She leaned forward and kissed him, holding him in place. Reluctantly, they broke their hold, Link gently pushing her back.

"So where did you learn to play Haymaker so well?" he asked in a low voice.

"You're not the only one who can take a few lessons," she replied with a smirk.

They kissed again, quickly, and snuck inside separately, Zelda first and Link lingering for a few minutes on the balcony to cool down.


	9. Chapter 9

"Your Majesty."

The king turned his attention to the shy scribe, clutching a sheaf of papers in his hands.

"After our… third check, we were still unable to find any records for the past two years indicating the purchase of any size of land by a Master Tolrose."

The king nodded. "That is what I expected," he muttered. "Dismissed."

The scribe bowed and left quickly, leaving the king to think, sitting at his massive desk in his personal chambers. He was thinking of some snatch of conversation he'd heard while at Archduke Golliet's, Link telling the Archduchess about slaying a giant spider, and the Archduke's own story about the boy that cleared fire-breathing monsters from the mountain. His first name had been Link.

The king shook his head, but he was smiling now, a little bit. It was time to meet his daughter for breakfast.

-

Zelda looked up in surprise when she was presented with a gold embossed note from her very father, inviting her to share breakfast with him. But it could only be good, after what Link told her they had talked about. Right?

She got dressed quickly and rushed downstairs, smoothing her hair back out of her face. She smiled at the king, already seated, and sat down at her usual place next to him. "Good morning, Father."

"Good morning, Daughter."

They ate first, Zelda picking at her breakfast all the while, nervous. What could he want to talk about with her? What could be going through his head? She mulled over her worries as they dined on crisped slices of bacon, hot toasted bread with butter, oatmeal with plenty of sugar and cream, everything she liked. When the last rashers of bacon were getting cold and congealed, their coffee being refilled a third time, the king finally spoke his mind.

"Do you remember about… several years ago, when Master Ganondorf was around, and you began having those dreams?"

Zelda slowly nodded.

"And then, shortly after he disappeared, you had… night terrors for a while, about being chased down by monsters, to the point where we had to get you help."

Zelda stared down into her coffee. She remembered well; for a year she'd wake up screaming, screaming that he was coming, her bed sheets soaked with sweat. Impa would grab her knowingly, hugging her tight until she passed out from exhaustion again.

"You told me once, before you started having those nightmares, that you met a young boy, the good part of your dreams. What was his name?"

Zelda could not tell him. She blinked rapidly, her heart pounding. The nightmares were always there at the back of her mind like a brand, Impa stealing her from the castle and Ganondorf lunging after them, his horse's breath blowing in the wind like smoke. But she'd gotten very good at defeating them.

The king reached over and pushed his daughter's arm. "Zelda. What was the young man's name?"

Zelda blinked and shook her head. "I don't remember."

He could not tell if she was lying or if she honestly did not know. He wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter; her doctor was very good.

Zelda had been lying, naturally. She didn't know what her father's actions were if she were to tell him that it was Link who she'd dreamed of, and she didn't want to find out.

-

Link, on the other hand, was starting to feel pretty good. He'd lost some weight and built up his muscles, and he hadn't taken a single hit in practice. Even his fellow soldiers were starting to compliment him, and the guard captain had mentioned if he kept it up, he'd be 'going places'. In a positive way, of course. He took his breakfast with the others, joking around with them. Everyone was getting nicknames now, as their personalities in swordplay shone forth. On his way out to mill the castle for something else to do, Link didn't know he was being watched by Addie, who had, of course, seen their quick kisses last night on the patio. Like usual, Zelda had their lunch arranged, and like usual, they had it out in the gardens.

They ate in silence at first. But Link decided he needed to open up his big fat mouth about something.

"You should probably pick a husband, yeah? Just to appease your dad."

"_What_?" Zelda snapped, eyeing him. "Do you want to leave or something?"

"No, no, no, but… well, I think your dad kinda hates me."

"Oh please, if my father hated you, he certainly wouldn't let you be around here." Zelda sipped at her wine, glaring at him.

"Well look, I just… we can't go around like this forever, you know? You're gonna need a king some day, and… I can't be king because I have no title to my name."

"You're not the type to be a king, anyway," Zelda murmured. "It's a hellish job."

Link sighed and looked away.

"Look," Zelda said with a little sigh, tilting her head slightly. He turned back towards her. "Why don't we make an arrangement? I am nowhere near ready, in my opinion, to rush into a wedding. And you are nowhere near ready to leave, I hope?"

"Well," Link glanced down at his lunch. "No."

"So, let us linger for a year. I will compare my current list of suitors, you can keep your job for a little longer, and…" she shrugged.

Link thought about it, nodding reluctantly. "Alright." Zelda smiled, leaning over and kissing his cheek. He smiled back, a little uncomfortable, but growing used to it all the same.

-

After lunch, because the weather was so good, they decided to linger outside and walk the maze. They hadn't actually gone farther than their lunch spot, although Zelda knew the maze pretty well, so she led them around, keeping Link in view so he wouldn't get lost.

"How big is this thing?" he asked as they wound their way toward the center.

"It's not too big, just so intricate one gets that feeling from it. It serves two purposes; as entertainment, and it protects part of our castle from anyone trying to sneak close and attack it."

Link looked around at the brilliant green bushes, the carefully planted and planned flowers threaded throughout the walkways. "They could light it all on fire, though."

Zelda sighed and closed her eyes. "Well, come on. If you're going to sneak into a castle you don't light a fire so close to your enemy's base."

She continued leading him through the maze until they were in the very center, where the bushes grew tallest and shrouded them in green silence. It was the eye of the storm, the calm heart of its writhing mass. Both of them had been silent for some time. There was a fountain, making the only noise, a muted splashing sound. Zelda looked over at Link and walked over to him, taking his hands. Link looked at her, his eyes bright and wondering. They kissed, over and over, lingering there in the maze.

-

Addie had watched them go out to lunch, and as an excuse to stay near the doors to the garden maze, she began to furiously clean the glass, over and over, wiping down every inch to avoid leaving as long as possible. She was at the far end of the hall, polishing an old mirror, when finally Zelda waltzed in, her face pink from the sun or excitement. Addie watched the princess dance off to her rooms, and peeked out of a low window open to the patio before the gardens, Link still hanging around out there and wiping his mouth clean, kicking his feet a little before heading determinedly to the doors. Addie rushed off, all of excitement. They couldn't resist each other, they had to be together! And she would set them up for the perfect time to do just that.

-

The next morning, immediately after Link finished his practice and long before Zelda would rise for the day and begin preparing, Addie bravely knocked at the barrack doors. One of the other soldiers answered, a younger boy with sandy hair and a stubbly chin. "Yeah?"

Addie bowed. "Excuse me, but her royal highness has requested the presence of her guard."

Link climbed down from his bed, surprised; he didn't think Zelda was up this early. He headed out and followed Addie to the stairway, pausing at the bottom step. "What's this all about?" he asked Addie sharply. She did not reply, but headed upstairs. After a few minutes, he followed.

He made Addie stop again at the door to Zelda's room. "Tell me what's going on." He was deeply annoyed, and didn't trust this girl a whole lot.

Addie cleared her throat. "Well, good sir, the princess Zelda confessed to me last night as I was combing her hair that she would like nothing more but to be woken by your kiss in the mornings." Her eyes were shining, and Addie looked lost in a dream world. What Link didn't know was that she was making the whole thing up; Zelda had said no such thing to Addie, and didn't care much for being bothered while she was sleeping, especially not by silly romantic fantasies of being kissed awake, even by someone she admired. But Addie knew this was really what they both wanted, and she was going to help it along!

As quietly as possible she opened the princess' bedroom and let Link in, shutting the doors afterwards. Link looked around her rooms; they were much brighter during the day and seen with sober eyes. Her room was tidy, one closet door open with a beautiful lace gown hanging over the top. Nervous, he poked around her vanity, sniffing at a perfume and spraying a little on his coat, sniffing and sneezing. Zelda was oblivious, tucked warm in her bed, her back to him. He touched her little makeup brushes, looked over a few scattered pieces of jewelry, and in one partially open drawer he saw a piece of paper with careful, tiny lettering. He bent down to look at it closer, and that was when Zelda rolled over in bed and opened her eyes halfway, staring at the familiar figure in her room.

"Link, what the hell are you doin' in here," she slurred, one eye barely open.

Link froze up and looked over at her. "I uh… was sent to wake you."

"Why?"

"I uh… I don't know, actually."

Zelda sighed and waved one hand at him. "Get outta here before we get in trouble."

Link turned around and tried the door, but it was locked. "Oh, what the _hell_," he muttered.

"What?" Zelda grumbled.

"Addie locked the door."

"_What_?" Zelda got up and rattled the door handle, glowering.

Addie, meanwhile, was busily cleaning at the bottom of the stairs to keep anyone from going up to wake the princess just yet. Oh, they would be so happy to have this chance!

"I'm dismissing that damn maid as soon as we're out of here," Zelda growled under her breath.

Link pulled her back and inspected the locks. Zelda's door had two of them; one on the outside and one on the inside. In times of war, they would use both, but in times of peace (like now) the outside one would be left undone and Zelda would lock the inside one herself.

Link patted his hips and then his boots, trying to find his dagger. When he did, he held it up to the keyhole, but it was far too big of a blade to fit. Zelda gently nudged him aside, holding a skinny bobby pin that she bent apart. She braced herself against the door, crouching down and wriggling the bobby pin inside of the lock tumbler, muttering under her breath, coaxing the machinery. The lock clicked over and Zelda finally opened the door, Link quickly stepping out. He turned back around to face Zelda, who had cooled somewhat in demeanor now that she was awake.

"Tell Addie that if she plans any more little trysts for us I will set up a tryst of my own between her and the pig pens."

Link nodded and rushed back down the stairs, Addie looking up all surprised at how quickly it'd gone. "Look," he snapped, pointing at her. "If you…" Oh, how had Zelda put it? "Don't you ever do somethin' like that again." Addie stepped back and bowed in shock as Link stormed off.

-

Zelda had gotten to curl back up in bed, and she woke up a few hours later again when the brilliant sun was in her eyes through the windows. "Hell," she grumbled to herself. She stretched and took her time getting out of bed, cracking her back sharply with a little groan. Two of her maids walked in, thankfully neither was Addie, and began to arrange her clothes for the day. So deep had Zelda's sleep been, that for a while she convinced herself that what had happened was little more than a dream. At least, until she was having her hair done, and her maid picked up the bent bobby pin.

"Oh dear, what happened here?" the girl muttered, looking it over and setting it back down. Zelda glanced at the bent pin and sighed, closing her eyes tight.

Eventually, she got set for the day, and wandered downstairs to see what was going on, and if Link was around and wanting lunch.

Link did want lunch, but he didn't want to have it at the castle. He was wary of Addie, and it didn't take much to convince Zelda that they should go ride their horses out somewhere with lunch. So they left the castle grounds together, Link carrying the basket on his horse, Zelda leading them out into the field.

Link spread the blanket for them and stretched out on it, looking off in the distance as Zelda set out their plates. It was the first time they were actually trusted with no guards and outside the castle. The two of them picked at the food sent with them, quiet.

"You know, I think there's supposed to be another ball in a month," Zelda finally said, peeling a grape with her teeth.

"Oh yeah?"

Zelda nodded. "Would you still want to go with me?"

Link grinned. "I'm supposed to, right?"

She laughed a little. "I guess you don't have much of a choice, do you?"

They sat staring out at the clouds, quiet again.

"I like you," she murmured under her breath.

"I like you too," he replied.

They looked at each other and Zelda smiled, real slow, looking away again. Link smiled back, nodding once.

They stayed out there for a while, not even talking. Finally, they packed up the things from lunch and headed back in, riding in silence. For a few minutes, they held hands. The whole day had sort of been wrapped in that quiet peace, like they knew that every second they spent together in dangerous closeness could be ruined at any time.

-

Dinner was a rather morose affair. Zelda and Link tried not to make eye contact, and the king was reading some sort of letter that he did not seem eager to share until he finished. Finally, he folded it in half and set it down next to his plate.

"That was a… proposal from Archduke Golliet," he spoke suddenly. Zelda and Link stared. "He and his wife were much impressed with you, and happily are offering their land and home to our estate as well as a betrothal agreement to Corbin."

Zelda dropped her fork and started panicking. "Father, it's too soon. And I don't know if I even _like_ Corbin—

"Well he's been the most agreeable chap so far, hasn't he?" the king retorted, angry. "And I'm bloody sick of waiting for you to pick someone good enough! He's the best choice that's also eligible, my dear daughter, so I hope you get used to it! I am done with this conversation!"

Zelda shoved herself back from the table and stormed off. Link hesitated, frozen. Finally, the king looked at him and waved one hand, allowing Link to run off after Zelda.

He caught up with her; she hadn't gone very far, unable to catch her breath so easily in her corset. "Princess, look, your dad's just worried about you, you know that. And I didn't think he was such a bad fellow, you know, I thought he was alright."

Zelda took slow, small breaths, letting her heart calm back down and her lungs catch up. "You did?" she asked in a low voice.

"Yeah." He was just lying to everyone now. "I mean, he's… not me, you know, but…" he laughed, shrugging.

All mad and impulsive and full of teenage rebellion (even if she was technically an adult), Zelda grabbed Link and kissed him.

She really couldn't have picked a worse time, as three different maids and even a soldier saw this. Link, in a panic, pushed her back. "Zelda!" he hissed.

They looked around, but the hall was empty again.

"A close one," he muttered.

-

Mellie about screamed when the four of them came running into the kitchens, shouting. "It's happened! It's happened!"

"What's happened?!" she shouted.

"We saw 'em kiss!"

"Oh hell," Mellie grumbled, turning to get the box. "Well who saw 'em first?"

The three maids and the soldier stared at each other, unsure.

"I was standin' there longest," the soldier volunteered first.

"We were closest to 'em!" shouted one of the maids.

"Why don't we just split it four ways?" suggested another maid.

"No!" the other three shouted.

Mellie groaned. "Just do it four ways already, there's still the pool for catchin' them in it, an' that one's three times the size."

They grumbled as they earned their winnings, Addie watching them jealously. "Should've been my earnings," she muttered darkly. Of course, there was still the other pool…

-

"Just go through with it, okay? The wedding will take time to prepare, and hopefully by then I'll have finished training and be able to join the Royal Guard, so I won't really leave."

They were sitting outside, late at night, and Link had snuck a bottle of good stuff from the kitchens. They drank straight from the bottle, passing it back and forth as they sat around on the patio staring at the garden.

"What shall we do in the meantime?" Zelda asked as she took a restrained sip before handing the bottle back.

Link shrugged. "Just do what we've been doing, I guess. If… that's alright."

She nodded. "Probably best if we're more discreet about it though."

"Oh, sure, probably shouldn't uh, kiss in hallways during the day and all that."

Link stuffed the cork back in the bottle, wondering if he could sneak it back into the kitchen just as easily. Like the gentleman he'd been trained to be, he led Zelda to the stairway of her rooms, kissing her hand and letting her go. He did, at least, successfully sneak the wine back into the kitchens, and Mellie would gripe about the nearly empty bottle during dinner the next day.

-

The king sighed. There were quite a few Marquis on the west side of Hyrule, and most of them had yet to be wed daughters. He was struggling, trying, somehow, to find a loophole for Link. Despite his reservations and tradition and the horrible cliché that was "Guard and his ward fall in love", he wanted his little girl to be happy, and if this was the only way she could, then he would do what he could for her. He looked up when someone knocked on the door to his rooms.

"Come in," he called gruffly.

A soldier stepped in, holding a letter. "This came for you, sir."

The king opened the letter; it was a reply from the Gorons. He'd sent a letter to them after Zelda murmured she had no such idea of who she'd dreamed about. Here was the reply, where Darunia confirmed it was a young boy named Link what helped them out several years back. He thought about it, stroking his chin, chewing his lower lip. He would have to talk to his daughter again about this, and catch her off guard this time.

-

Zelda could not sleep. It was early, very early, so she forced herself up and awake, and peeked out her bedroom window to see what time it was. It was very early, the sky still grey. She peeked around, looking down at the yard below and watching the soldiers train. She looked for Link, but so up high she couldn't tell where he was. Someone entered her room and she jolted, turning around. "Father!"

The king nodded. "Sit down, Zelda." She did, and waited a few minutes before her father composed himself to speak. "Are you positive that you remember nothing whatsoever about… about those visions?"

"Yes…" she narrowed her eyes, suspicious.

"And you are not lying to me?"

"No…"

"I talked to Impa, and she told me something very different about your visions."

Zelda froze. Impa wouldn't betray her, but Impa wasn't her nanny anymore, and if it involved the princess, she would talk to the king, especially if it involved something that worried him. Her father was looking at her now with utmost concern.

"Look, Father. I… it wasn't like that; for a while I was having these visions, right, and they involved Link sort of um… saving… Hyrule, and… he did. He did." Zelda stared down at her nails, terrified.

"So he's a hero, then," the king muttered.

"Yes, I suppose, I guess…"

"Someone who should probably be knighted."

Zelda bit her lower lip. What was her father playing at?

The king leaned forward. "He was never a Viscount's son, was he?"

Zelda shook her head. "No. He was just… a boy from the woods, and he had this fairy, and he saved Hyrule as we know it, he… he's my friend."

"Do you like him?" the king asked in a low voice.

"Yes, yes, I think he's a good person."

"But do you, Zelda, believe that he is a good match for you? And would you be willing to write, for me, the extent of his deeds for our country, so that I am assured of his valor and worth?"

What was her father saying? Zelda looked at him in surprise. "Do you…"

The king took her hands in his. "My little girl, if it makes you happy, I would do this for you." He beamed at her, and Zelda nodded, sniffling, smiling, looking down.

"But I couldn't do that to him."

"Do what?"

"Marry him and make him king. I don't think he'd enjoy it, he's not… that type." She would have said "not the kind of man who can sit around and get fat", but she was on her father's very good side, and she wasn't dropping it now for anything.

"Well… well then." The king cleared his throat.

Zelda ran her fingers through her hair. "I mean… I do fancy him, but I don't think he'd enjoy running a kingdom. He's much happier being a soldier."

"I shall still give him the honors, then, and I won't dismiss him from his post," the king reassured her, patting her arm.

"And, if you wish it, and truly think he'd be a good king… I will marry Corbin," Zelda replied calmly.

The king nodded and kissed her forehead. "Go on back to bed, then."

He tucked her in, as he had not done for ages, and smiled at her. "It's all settled then, I hope."

"Yes, Father. I just can't believe that Impa betrayed me…"

The king paused, looking back and smiling. "She didn't, dear."

Zelda stared at her father, wide-eyed. "What?"

"Oh no. You acknowledged your visions; she said she had no idea you were having any at all." The king grinned, and that was the moment Zelda discovered her father could tell just as convincing of a lie as she could.


	10. Chapter 10

Zelda was quiet as she sat with Link to lunch later that day. He nudged her, trying to get her to talk, concerned over how odd she was acting. She waited, taking her time as she took a sip of her tea before finally telling him what was up. It was the last three words he wanted to hear.

"My father knows."

Link froze, gripping the edge of the table. "What? What does he know?"

"Everything," she replied in a low voice.

"Shit," Link groaned, looking towards the foreboding castle.

"It's going to be okay, though, he's going to… he's going to knight you as a hero, for what you've done for Hyrule, and let you stay as my guard." She smiled, relaxing now. Now that she'd said it out loud, relief washed over her, making her limbs feel warm and light. Link was staying, and there was no more lying, no more deception. Zelda laughed once or twice, putting her hands to her mouth and taking slow breaths, her head light and her whole body giddy.

Link relaxed when she did, smiling and patting her shoulder. Zelda leaned over and hugged him tight, clinging to him.

"So he's okay with us being… close, then?" he asked. "Does he think this means I could… we could… if you wanted to, that is—

"Oh no," Zelda replied, pulling back. "I don't think you'd enjoy being king, Link. I told him as much. I'll… probably still have to marry Corbin."

Link frowned. "How do you know if I won't like being King? No one's even asked me!" Zelda was rather taken aback by his shouting, and she folded her arms. She would not be outscreamed by him.

"I know you quite well, and I know that you'd rather be out adventuring, and in times of war you would want to fight. But the king cannot fight until there is an heir, and even then, it is ill-advised until the heir is of marrying age or betrothed. You would be terrible bored if you couldn't leave the castle very often for years."

"I can settle down," Link retorted. "I'll uh, I'll domesticate."

"You're not a dog!" Zelda snapped. "It's not like training a puppy, it's like breaking a wild horse!"

"Which I've done—

"Epona is hardly wild—

"I didn't see anyone else riding her!"

"Fine!" Zelda shouted. "If you think you're so tame, why don't you spend a week shadowing the king and seeing what he has to deal with? Then you can tell me if you can handle it." She leaned back, triumphant.

They sat there in silence for a minute, steaming at each other, but not really mad.

"What happens if I can handle being king?" Link asked in a low voice.

Zelda shrugged. "I'll be wrong."

"And?"

She blinked. "What, being right isn't enough for you? Fine, um…" She shrugged. "I'm sure we'll think of something."

"And if I'm wrong?"

Again, Zelda shrugged, mostly to annoy him. "Then you're wrong, and… I don't know, I suppose I'll make you do whatever I want for a month or something."

"A month?" he cried. "That's ridiculous!"

"Fine, fine! Just a week." Zelda went to grab a scone, already layered with cream and preserves.

"That is some harsh punishment, girly," he grumbled.

Zelda shook her head. "You complain too much."

"I do not," Link retorted, lifting his chin. He'd calmed down, and was in the mood for teasing her. But Zelda didn't look like she wanted to take it, so instead he returned to his lunch, and they ate mostly in silence for the rest of the meal.

-

Afterward, they split up, and Zelda went to approach her father alone in his study on the matter of Link tailing him.

"When I said that I felt Link would not be comfortable being king, he wanted to have a chance to prove that he could handle it. As I was… wrong in assuming that he would want no part of it, I was thinking that perhaps he should spend a week finding just what a king's responsibilities are, and judging for himself if he thinks he could perform those same responsibilities." Zelda cleared her throat and stepped back, her hands clasped together tight.

Her father ignored her for a few minutes, thinking.

"And what if he can perform those duties?" he finally asked, looking at his daughter.

Zelda tensed, thinking. "You haven't… sent that letter to Archduke Golliet yet, have you?"

The king sighed. "No, I have not. But he will be concerned if there is not a reply soon, I am afraid."

"Just one week, Father. That is all I ask."

The king looked away from her. "Just one week. I hope that is enough time for the both of you to decide your fates."

"I believe it shall," Zelda replied, taking leave of her father to tell Link the news.

-

Link nodded once when Zelda told him that her father had agreed, the two of them hanging around in the library, a rather quiet and private place. "But it's only for a week," she added, "so multiply the experience by fifty-two for a year, and then multiply that by fifty in itself. You might find it's not so easy."

"I never said the king's job was easy," Link replied, frowning. "In fact, that might be why it would appeal to me at all; a challenge, yeah?"

Zelda sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just saying. If this is going to change the way everything in our lives goes, then that will be that. Now, come on. We have a ball in a few weeks, and we must get new outfits." She looped her arm through his, but Link disentangled himself.

"What's wrong with what we wore?"

"You can't wear the same outfit to two balls, at least not in the same year and barely a month apart, Link." Zelda shook her head. "Come on, I'll even pick green this time."

He sighed and took her arm once more, leaving the library with her. He hoped this time, it wouldn't take quite so long to pick a nice fabric.

-

It took longer this time, in fact. Link kept pushing for a dark green fabric, but the weather was getting warmer with the approach of summer, and Zelda wanted a light green cottony satin.

"It'll look stupid on me," he grumbled, as she rubbed the texture between her fingers, smiling at it.

"Relax; you didn't look stupid in the last outfit, why would you start now?" she asked, glancing at him.

"To spite you."

Zelda rolled her eyes, turning back to the pastel material, her head already swimming with ideas for it. "Maybe something off the shoulder," she muttered, "with three quarter sleeves and a fitted bodice…"

Link let his mind wander as he looked around the fabric shop, bored. Zelda reached out and pinched his ear to get his attention, narrowing her eyes. "You're not getting out of this so easily." She selected two different colors; a light, spring green and a darker green, with a bit of a grey edge to it. "We'll test both of these out."

"Does the king have to do this too?"

"Absolutely he does," Zelda replied, annoyed, though she was doing it on purpose to keep Link around as much as possible. Later that day, he would begin shadowing the king, and even though she herself suggested it, Zelda was regretting that she would be significantly hindered in getting to see him every day.

The fabricians approached the princess and took the bolts, leading Zelda and Link over to the large skylight near their ordering area, so that they could best study the fabric and decide which would look best. The longer she compared, the more Zelda found that she really did like the darker green, so they went with it, Zelda sitting down in a chair and describing what she wanted done with it.

"Like an off the shoulder, right, but modest, maybe a lapel detail folded over or something, as well as a fitted bodice…"

Link started zoning out again, looking around the shop and spying two dressmaker's dolls, stacked with bolts of fabric just right in the light so that they looked like two duelists facing each other. He entertained himself with the idea that they were battling over something silly, like a dressed mannequin that was in the shop's window. Their swords were bolts of cloth, and as they attacked each other, little bits of dust and stray threads would go flying, until the material was completely destroy-

"Link!"

He jumped and looked around at Zelda. "What!"

Zelda shook her head. "Did you like the style of dress you wore to the last ball?"

"Uh…" it took him a minute to remember what he'd been wearing. "Yeah, that's fine, that works, whatever."

Zelda shook her head and finished the order with the fabricians, who smiled and stood when she did, thanking her fervently for her patronage and walking the two of them out, waving at the door.

Zelda pulled Link in tight, and he tensed his arm, stepping a bit to one side to get her to release her grip. "You've been a little snippy today, since after lunch," he muttered. "What's your deal?"

Zelda tilted her head in surprise. She hadn't noticed… well, maybe she had. Maybe she'd been a little short with him. "I'm… I apologize. I am just worried about you shadowing my father, I suppose."

"What," he tried to joke, "that you'll get to marry me after all, someday?"

Zelda shook her head, looking a little sad now. "No, that… that it'll scare you off or something."

"Oh come on," he replied. "It'd take a lot to scare me. Courage, remember?" He nudged her side gently with his elbow, trying to cheer her up.

Zelda nodded and smiled. "Very true." She rested her cheek briefly on his shoulder as they headed back to the castle, but it quickly gave her a cramp in her neck so she straightened again. They made it back to the castle, and Link kissed Zelda's hand before taking his leave, approaching the king's study.

He knocked, and waited patiently, and it took a few minutes before the king finally called that he was allowed to enter. Link stepped in and hesitated in bowing his greeting, his eyes going wide as he looked around the massive room, all dark wood, with a few stacks of paper on the desk, and books everywhere. The king directed him to a chair on the other side of the table. "What you see around you," the king began as he shuffled and sorted, "is an assortment of suggested laws, requests for land and titles, messages of disputes and troubles they are having through the country, as well as correspondence requesting my permission to betroth the Princess Zelda." He looked pointedly at Link, and Link did not flinch.

"Every day, these notices are sorted and brought to my study for me to look through and consider. You will be helping me do that." He put down a short stack in front of Link, and after a few minutes, Link hesitantly took the piece from the top of the stack. It was a request to purchase a patch of land bordering on Lake Hylia, and to build upon it a duchy estate.

"Well this one seems straightforward," he offered the king.

The king took it from him and looked over it.

"Oh, it certainly seems that way, but a minor problem." The king directed Link's eyes to a map of Hyrule. Various patches were colored in with thin veneers of paint in different colors, and each patch had a pin with a tiny painted flag hanging from it.

"These various colors are different purchased estates, and also various farm plots. The little flags in each estate represent what family owns said estate or farm plot." The king paused and read the note again. "The land they're trying to buy is here." He pointed to a spot, half farmland and half blank. "They want to encroach on farmland currently owned by a smaller farm family."

"Well then, we'll deny them the purchase." Easy enough.

The king shook his head. "While all land is the rightful property of the crown, the farming family is renting this part. They must be asked as well if they are comfortable with selling some land. The process can take a month, depending on how far the family is from the castle and those wanting to buy, and how good the offered buyouts can become. In the end it all comes back to the castle anyway."

Link raised his eyebrows. "Why not just have everyone come to the castle and discuss it here in a neutral setting?"

"Oh if it drags on longer than a month, that is what we resort to," the king answered. "It usually gets resolved through mail; if that happened from the start, this castle would be far more crowded."

Link picked the next letter off the stack and read it. This one was a request for the princess' hand in marriage; he quietly folded it up while the king's back was turned and pocketed it.

So far, it didn't seem so bad; a little annoying and winded on some tasks, but nothing terrible. After an hour, the king had sorted the pile into marriage requests, law suggestions, and offers for land plots. He barely glanced at the marriage proposals, focusing on the laws and reading the suggestions carefully, before explaining to Link why they were either good or poor suggestions. Some of the laws were so strange that Link could not find any reason for having them passed, such as one about spitting in the wind on Farorsday after noon.

While the king pored over laws, Link took the short pile of marriage proposals and flipped through them casually, looking over names, wondering if he'd met them at the ball or would meet them at the next one. In the pile was a familiar name, Duke Ambrose Holsten. Link narrowed his eyes and crunched the paper in his fist, the majesty looking up when he heard the rustle of papers.

"Oh?" He took the piece from Link's fingers and straightened it, looking it over. "Ah, Duke Holsten." The king handed it back. "You do not care much for him?"

Link shifted in his seat. "He seems very arrogant. I don't think someone like that would do well as a king."

His Majesty nodded and returned to reading law proposals, the ones he found impassable getting put to one side, and the ones he would consider getting put in a second. Link would have done the same, but not only did he not want to think about who might make a better match for Zelda than himself, but he also did not know the men's characters well enough to judge.

So instead he read through the land purchase offers, comparing them carefully on the map to sort out who was trying to encroach on another's land, and who wasn't.

-

Zelda was out jewelry-shopping again. She did not desire to sit in the castle alone, whether her own rooms or the library, wondering how Link was finding the tedious operations of the castle. So instead she wasted time outside. She wasn't actually planning to buy anything this time; she had plenty of jewelry that would look nice against the dress the fabricians were planning, but she was miserable lonely. Link hadn't been able to join her for lunch; more papers were coming in, and the king was using him fulltime to get through them.

At the previous night's dinner, the two men discussed what they'd looked over. While Zelda was heartened by the exchange, she noticed how red Link's eyes were from strain. One of the serving girls had actually taken him two round pucks kept in the ice buckets for such an occasion.

Link had never read so much in his life (mostly because he wasn't terribly good at it). His mind was swimming as he lay in his bunk, trying to sleep. He dreamt of lecherous well-dressed men illegally relacing their boots while outside of a temple before noon, proposal rings raining from the sky. It was such that he got very little sleep, and actually managed to have a blow land on him during practice the next morning.

"You're slipping, Bruiser!" one of the other trainees called with a laugh. Link grit his teeth, and fought his partner back viciously for two second losing himself in rapidfire swings and thrusts, knocking the poor guy down on his back and holding the point of his… stick to his throat, breathing harshly.

Slipping, slipping like sleeping, sleeping was gone to him now, an elusive thing he was always chasing. Sleep was the hardest to find in the castle. Link had been the king's protégé of sorts for four days, and he had not known such exhaustion in seven years. It wasn't just _reading_, it was thinking and remembering and devoting himself entirely to fighting the problems of the country, and he couldn't even do it on horseback, he was pinned in the castle, trapped and forced to mediate through pen and paper, the worst of all.

When Link finally passed out on the king's study desk, woken up by a sharp knock to the top of his head, he wondered if this meant he had lost. "How can you do it?" he asked breathlessly, when he was finally able to restart his mind, pulling it from the sticky mire of a dream. The king handed him his own monogrammed hankerchief, and Link sheepishly wiped up the small splatter of drool from the corner of his mouth.

"Strong coffee, and years of practice." The king eyed Link carefully. "Do you believe, at this point, that you could do this very same thing for years?"

Link thought about it, very carefully. The tedium of reading notes, handwritten in tiny but elegant letters, discovering by the end of the flowery poetry of said note that it was a nonsensical law or an attempt to usurp someone else's land, every day, getting worse in wartimes with the piling of notices about taken land, lost battles, fallen soldiers, rarely a victory, and not being able to go out alongside the other men and fight for the country, to rally them under his command. In his head, for her, Link wanted to be king more than anything.

He looked up at the king and whispered, "No."

-

Zelda returned with nothing in her hands and everything on her mind. She brushed by the library and stopped cold, poking her head in and staring at Link, holding those little pucks to his eyes again and dead silent. Some thoughtful girl had thrown a blanket over him, and sure enough Zelda could hear him snoring softly. But why was he here, sleeping? Why wasn't he up discussing… tax increases or something? Zelda walked soundlessly into the library and touched Link's arm with her left hand.

His snoring stopped and he reached up with a free hand, pulling away the pucks and looking up at the princess in silence. She could read it in his expression that he'd failed. Never had she wanted so badly to be wrong.

They stayed in the library in silence, Zelda pushing a chair over next to his and sitting in it primly, her hands folded together.

"Guess you were right, like always," he murmured.

Zelda shrugged. "I still believe that you were very brave to do what you did. I never wanted you to be king, for it to trap you."

Again they sat in silence, until Zelda spoke up again, lingering over the words. "When you have completed your training… if you stay on as a soldier… I'll give you a guard position when I am queen."

"I'd like that," he muttered in reply, feeling a bit heartened. He had, after all, given it his best shot, hadn't he? No one was going to die because of it, Hyrule would still thrive…

Zelda looked over when she heard another low snore starting from the chair next to hers. She recovered Link with his blanket and kissed him very lightly on the mouth, putting the cool pucks back on his eyes and leaving the library with barely a swish of her skirts.


	11. Chapter 11

Link had finally been gently goaded to the barracks over his own rooms, where he remained until dinner. He arrived after the king but before Zelda, and the king cleared his throat as they stood and waited. The two men said nothing, and Link felt a weight on his shoulders, as if he'd let them both down. Dinner was quick and silent, and no one looked at the others, staring down and pushing around the bites of chicken on their plates.

Zelda left first, and as Link did not know how much more of the uncomfortable silence he could stomach, he followed her. They slowed down when they were free of the dining hall. All over again, Link was feeling irritated with himself for failing. All the words he used to encourage himself that it was alright, that he would still be able to at least be a soldier in the castle, was of little comfort. He wanted a fight, to remind himself that he was still good at something. He felt like a dog with its fur stroked the wrong way, making it stand up.

Zelda was watching him carefully, able to see the war going on inside him. "Look," she started. Link glanced at her, trying to be neutral and calm, but he was itching for a fight. If Zelda said one wrong thing, he would not be able to stop himself from starting one right here in the hall.

"Tomorrow, we'll leave the grounds for a picnic again, yes? And then you and I will go get our fitting, and… maybe we can go explore the maze again, for a little while?" She reached out and touched his hand. Link looked over this one-sided conversation carefully, but there was nothing malicious in it, nothing to make him lash out, so he nodded his agreement and kissed Zelda's hand, and she took leave of him, and he went to go fume by himself in his cot.

-

Training went better the next morning; he'd landed several blows, and his annoyance at himself had improved his attacks considerably. At least he would always have his knowledge of battle to fall back on. Progressively, he'd been set up against stronger and more knowledgeable opponents, the captains trying to find where he met his match. Every time they believed they found one, Link would best them within a few days.

He took his time cleaning up, running his fingers through his hair as he washed and wondering if it was getting too long. When he got back to the barracks, he was stopped before passing the door by a guard, and handed a note from the king to see him in his study.

So, having little choice, he went to the king's study, hoping he was dressed appropriately, knocking and all that and being allowed in after a few minutes. The king invited him to sit down, and Link did, and they sat there in silence for several minutes.

"So," the king started, shuffling some papers around. "Though you, sadly, did not perform as well as hoped before, when you were looking over a great number of these on your own, I believe that you would still be useful in looking them over. I can always use an extra set of eyes on looking over proposals, and though it will not be to the extent it was before, I would be proud to offer you the opportunity to work with me once more on these papers."

Link was surprised. He hadn't expected this offer, not in a million years. The king nodded at him, once, indicating he was waiting for an answer.

"I would… be honored to assist you, Your Majesty," Link replied finally, grinning.

"Nothing too strenuous, of course," the king assured him. "An hour or two after lunch."

"That sounds agreeable," Link replied.

"Good, good!" The king smiled and clapped his hands. "Shall we start today?"

Link was going to say yes, but hadn't Zelda stressed that they had things they needed to do in that time? "Uh, unfortunately, Your Majesty, Her Highness has asked me to accompany her to a fitting for the next ball that is arriving."

The king nodded. "Very well. Tomorrow then."

Link stood up to leave with the king's permission. "Thank you for this uh… opportunity, Your Majesty."

"Think nothing of it," the king assured him.

-

Link met Zelda at the doors leading to the stables; she'd not been waiting long, a picnic basket strung over one arm. "I have good news," he said, touching Zelda's shoulder.

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

They got inside, their horses being tacked up. Link glanced around to make sure Epona was being calm before leaning in towards the princess. "Your father wants me to still help him with the daily decrees and stuff."

"Oh does he?" Zelda smiled warmly. Her father must have been impressed with him on some scale, right? "That is wonderful news, I am glad to hear it."

They left the stables behind their horses, climbing up. Link took the picnic basket while Zelda climbed onto her mare, and she took it back when he slung himself upwards onto Epona.

"Let us go near the river today," Zelda told him, smiling.

"That sounds good," Link replied. It was a little farther, but it was cool near the water, and the light breezes that ran over the fields were a little too infrequent for Link's liking.

They thumped out there at an easy pace on their horses, getting to the river's edge. The banks were mostly grass, with a sudden drop off to the river. This was the calm part, where the water took its time curling around the few rocks jutting in its path.

Link helped Zelda dismount, his hands on her waist and her hands on his shoulders. She looked into his face for a beat, until Link turned and got the picnic basket and blanket, which they shook out and laid down together. They set out their plates and food, sitting on opposite sides of the blanket. Zelda had brought along a wide brimmed hat with bunches of flowers along the crown, and put it on to protect her nose and ears from the sun.

"Are you… feeling better? About… things?" Zelda asked him suddenly, looking over. "I heard that you were feeling upset with yourself because of…" She looked at her nails and picked at a ragged edge, trying to smooth it down.

Link thought for a few minutes. "I do, yeah. I was just feelin' so foolish for a while. I got so carried away in thinkin' how easy it'd be that I got overwhelmed." He picked at a stray thread on his boot's stitching.

"Well," Zelda picked at a blade of grass, peeling it apart, "my father hasn't exactly had an even workload. It's something he should be doing with advisors. But he likes… Doing the work keeps his mind off other worries."

Link nodded. He understood the need for distraction once in a while. Zelda looked over at him, staring out into the river. "I never stopped believing in you," she said softly. "Even now, I think that you could be a truly great soldier, a captain, especially. I believe you have what is desired for defending Hyrule. Don't forget that, alright?" She reached out and put a hand on his arm. Link put a hand on hers and gave it a squeeze, and Zelda moved in, kissing him. Link pulled her in with both hands, kissing her back. They stretched out on the blanket, and for a while, they forgot about lunch.

-

They ended up late to their fitting. It didn't totally matter, as Zelda was royalty and the fabricians were, in fact, expected to wait for her all day. Zelda had to reapply her makeup, and Link had to wash his face in the river, and they had to pick up their things and gather the horses, which had ambled off in boredom. So they got there twenty minutes or so after the appointed time, and Link offered apologies to the two women who shook it off. They headed towards the back, Zelda dressing first, and then Link. They looked each other over appraisingly. The cut of the dress for Zelda was a little lower in the bust, and the skirt wasn't as full. It wrapped around her shoulders, leaving her neck bare and plunging in a V down her collarbone, the sleeves tight to the elbow. The color of the dress, that funny celadon green, gave her a bit of an edge, a bit of something dangerous.

Link's outfit was equally as smashing, though quite similar to his first outfit. The lapels were wider, and the collar around his neck folded over with a dramatic point. It accentuated his cheekbones, and if vampires had existed in Hyrule, Zelda might've thought he was one (except for the tan skin and the going out in the sun and the eating of normal food). The accent colors were a steely white and a deep grey; there was a ribbon trim at the hem of Zelda's dress and at the edge of Link's lapels and jacket cuffs, his pants were the grey element.

Zelda twirled around slowly, looking at herself in the mirror. "I suppose I will have to look at some new jewelry again…" But surely she had _something_ that would go?

They'd even cobbled matching shoes for Zelda; Link had plain black boots to wear. After another few minutes of wheeling around in front of the array of mirrors, they all agreed on the look and fit of the outfits, and Link and Zelda changed their clothes one at a time. Zelda thanked the fabricians and they left, heading back to the castle, finally.

-

Because of their long-running lunch, they could not head out into the maze just yet. Zelda spent the afternoon lazily sorting her jewelry for the perfect things to wear. She settled on an elegant choker of artificially aged silver with tiny topaz crystals and diamonds embedded into the chain work, as well as matching earrings of clustered, tiny diamonds. Her maids helped her select from the cases of jewelry, someone setting aside a pair of silver hoops for Link, again.

Now that the time until the ball was starting to dwindle, Zelda was glad for something new to take her focus. She forced herself to worry about the fit of the clothes and whether or not the outfit would stand out as strongly as the last one, and how she should style her hair; in an up-do again or something different this time?

Chatting amicably about such brain-dead subjects with her ladies-in-waiting helped to keep her mind off the knowledge that no matter what they did for now, Zelda would have to marry someone else. At least she was getting to have some fun before then.

Link returned to the king's study the next day and helped him slog through the piles of papers. The king found, to his delight, that Link was a quick learner when he wasn't overwhelmed, and was usually able to find a compelling, sensible reason to deny or accept a claim for land or a law proposal.

They didn't talk about the marriage proposals.

-

Now that his day was full again, Link barely noticed when the month had sped by, and the next ball was only a week and one fitting away. He and Zelda were headed out now, and instead of their usual silence, they were talking.

"The problem is that the one family has owned the land for the past hundred or so years, and has been growing crops on it continuously. The other family claims they hold a deed, however, that grants them the rightful land, and on top of it they want to be paid reparations!" Link looked frustrated by it, his brows knit and his mouth in a frown. "We told them to split the land down the middle, but neither family is agreeing."

Zelda thought for a few minutes. "Why not tell them that, as the land is truly the castle's land, anyway, a split down the middle is the only choice? Or what if they sectioned off the plot of land being disagreed over, and rotated who grew crops in it for the year? It is extra work for them, but if they truly want it so bad, the true owners will agree, I think."

Link liked the idea immediately, and not just because of his bias for the person coming up with it. He would be sure to note to the king that his own daughter had found the fitting solution, so that she would receive the honor and praise.

Speaking of fitting, they had arrived, and stepped inside the cool building. Zelda had brought her selected jewelry with her; she wanted to see the effect of the ensemble and make sure that she personally was satisfied with it. Link changed first while she did a messy job of pinning her hair up and putting in the earrings and putting on the necklace, and she smiled at him after he stepped out from behind the curtain, holding it for her.

Zelda slipped the dress on, carefully, and looked herself over. The effect was surprising; it made her look far more mature than she was. She did a twirl before the mirror, looking herself over with a satisfactory smile. It needed to be taken in just a hair here and there, and soon she was wriggling back out of the dress.

Link's own clothes fit well enough, and he changed quickly, not completely happy with how unrecognizable he was in his own reflection. He looked aggressive, almost a little feral. It was better when he was dressed in his regular duds, and Zelda paid for the fitting and the clothes, the fabricians promising to have it delivered the morning of the ball. Zelda looped her arm through Link's as they ambled back to the castle. "When the time comes, you will make sure my husband is a suitable person, yes?" Zelda asked suddenly, turning her head to him.

"What? O… of course I will." Link looked at her, all surprised at the suddenness of the question.

"You're one of my closest friends. I trust your judgment." The words sort of rushed out of Zelda, like she had to say them quickly to hold something else off. Link squeezed her fingers best as he could, nodding.

They made it back to the castle and parted ways, taking a little time in doing so. Link felt he should say something, but he didn't know what. They took their separate ways, not knowing why it felt as if they were already saying goodbye.

Zelda went to her room and brooded, settling on the window seat in her bed chambers with a book she had no true intention of reading. Though the day was nice and the sun was out, she cursed it. Why couldn't it be a rainy day, a storm to match her misery? Every time she remembered their inevitable parting, Zelda wished to throw a tantrum like a little girl. Why couldn't she have what she wanted?

When they returned to the proper timeline, Zelda was relieved that there was no more danger, that she could go back to the reliable pace of the castle. She was ready to be bored, if it meant she wasn't risking her life, and she eagerly played the part of princess (give or take the nightmares that she eventually worked through). She rested her head against the cool window pane, finding it easier to will away the memory that they would have to give each other up when her eyes were closed.

She wasn't lying that way very long before she heard her bedroom door creak. She opened her eyes and looked around, catching Link halfway towards her. "You shouldn't be in here," she murmured.

Link nodded, smiling at her. "We've been breaking rules all over the place." He scooped her up, holding her close and kissing her. Zelda sighed and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in tight. "Run away with me?" he asked.

"Of course," she mumbled against his mouth. He was warm, almost hot like the sun. He kissed her face, holding it, lingering over her.

"Zelda," he sighed softly, speaking quietly.

"Yes," she said in response.

"Zelda?" he was asking this time. What?

Zelda opened her eyes, really opened her eyes, and realized that she'd been sleeping and now was staring at someone else; one of her maids. The sun was hot on her face from the window, or from embarrassment. She wasn't sure.

"Are you feeling well? It is nearly dinner… if not, I shall bring you a plate." The girl looked seriously concerned.

"I'm feeling quite fine, thank you." Zelda smiled to reassure her. "I will be down for dinner shortly."

-

Dinner was also, surprisingly, full of conversation. Link had spent the time beforehand telling the king of Zelda's idea for the land conflict, and he took to it immediately. Zelda had barely sat down before her father was commending her.

"I certainly have no worries if you were to rule alone for a time, dear daughter. You have always had a sharp mind for the people." Her father beamed at her, and Zelda smiled brilliantly. She was unaccustomed to such praise by way of her intelligence. The dinner, then, passed quickly as they talked and laughed, and finally, after the dessert plates were cleared away, the king gave Zelda and Link leave from the table.

Link's heart felt light and much cheered, and Zelda stroked his arm inconspicuously. They were passing by the wide double doors leading to the maze, and she pushed him gently towards them. The sun had set some time ago, and the maze was bathed in moonlight. Link looked at the princess quizzically, but she only nodded and pushed him again to the doors.

They moved silently and fast, unlocking the doors with hardly a creak of their iron knobs, and walking at a quick pace into the maze. Zelda was leading, and the tips of Link's fingers were on the small of her back. She didn't notice how hard she was breathing; they weren't even going terribly fast.

They made it to the quiet green center before Zelda spun and grabbed Link with both hands, pulling him in and kissing him. Damn any watchful eyes! Link kissed her back, reaching up and curling his fingers in her hair, and they gripped each other tight, pulling each other in and turning their heads this way and that as they kissed. Link wasn't completely sure what had brought this on, but he wasn't going to complain.

Finally, they had to push themselves apart, Zelda taking deep breaths to calm her pounding heart. Link dug his stubby nails into his palm so that the pain would distract his mind elsewhere.

To break the awkward silence, Zelda spoke up: "I thought you looked very dashing in your new coat."

"Oh, did you? I hadn't the faintest idea," Link replied jokingly. There, his heart had stopped rushing, and all of him was under control. Zelda smoothed her hair back out of her face, and Link reapproached her, putting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her close. They kissed again, slower and taking their time. Link stepped backward, pulling Zelda with him until the back of his legs hit one of the little cement benches. He sat down and pulled her with him, both of them sitting together, holding onto each other as if they'd no intention of letting go.

-

After an hour of this, Zelda complained of feeling cold. It was getting late anyway, so after they studied each other's faces for any tell-tale signs of their amorous session. Link wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, and Zelda blotted her lips in a desperate attempt to restain where it would have wiped off as they walked back to the castle through the maze. Their success rate wasn't very high, but there were few faces around when they returned inside, so they chose not to worry about it.

Link took Zelda's arm and walked her to her rooms. He let go and she turned to face him with a little smile. "I will see you tomorrow for lunch?"

"Yes, of course," he replied, nodding. He kissed her offered hand, and watched her walk up the stairs until they curled out of sight, grinning and returning to his own rooms, content and confident once again.


	12. Chapter 12

The next day, the two of them landed in hot water. Link had practiced like usual, washed up, and went to see if Zelda wanted to leave the castle for lunch, staying at the foot of the stairs and asking a much-subdued Addie to ask her. Zelda was having her hair put up, and she heartily agreed that another picnic off-grounds would be delightful.

Link got the basket ready, and they met at the stables, climbing up on their horses and cantering off into the distance. Zelda directed them out towards the river again, the sun bright and hot, the air over the water cool as it breezed by. They spread the picnic blanket and set out the food, and that was as far as they got before they started kissing again, Link's hand on Zelda's side and Zelda putting her fingers through his hair.

They were so focused on each other that they did not hear the sound of horse's hooves; when they did, Zelda immediately jerked away and looked around, Link doing much of the same and narrowing his eyes from this intrusion. They looked up at the horse and its rider; it was Corbin, who also happened to have a picnic basket on his arm. He had been smiling in greeting, but his face was very stiff, frozen, and his eyes were switching back and forth rapidly between the two.

Link turned away and started on a sandwich, and Zelda stood to receive Corbin, clearing her throat and deciding her best course was to act as if their little display was completely common and happened all the time. "Good day, Master Corbin." She smoothed her skirts. "You remember my guard Master Link Tolrose."

Link turned and looked at Corbin, and the both of them muttered a weak greeting that was little more than a grunt.

"Are you expecting someone for lunch?" she asked, looking at the picnic basket slung over Corbin's arm.

"Actually," he started, hesitant, "I came to see if you were available for lunch, and while heading to the castle I recognized your horse; I did not know that you had company."

Link narrowed his eyes. He didn't believe it all the way; if Corbin had seen Zelda's horse, he would have seen Link's as well.

"Would you care to join us?" Zelda asked finally, gesturing to the field of sad little sandwiches and cooling tea.

"Ah, I don't wish to interrupt anything…" Corbin started, eyeing Link nervously. Something about him intimidated Corbin, and he didn't want to anger the man.

"It's perfectly alright," Link spoke up, his eyes squinted against the sun. "I don't mind at all."

Corbin shifted awkwardly atop his horse, but finally Link stood and took the picnic basket so he could climb down. Zelda rearranged the plates and pots on their own blanket, and Corbin took back the basket from Link, opening it and setting out the chilled fruit, spiced wine, little sandwiches and suchforth. They ate, and Corbin tried to lead into conversation.

"So… Your Highness, has your father spoken to you about my father's offer?"

Link looked at Corbin, then at Zelda. Zelda glanced back, just for a moment. "The… betrothal? I… he has mentioned it."

"Oh no, a new one."

Zelda raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Oh? I am afraid he did not quite detail it for me yet." He hadn't said anything about it to her at all, and Zelda felt a flash of annoyance that her father was trying to keep her in mystery about her future.

"Simply that, upon acceptance of a betrothal, you would move into our home for a while, and live with us, so that you and I could become used to each other in an enclosed space."

Zelda shook her head. "Why would I move out there? It is not that your home isn't beautiful, but we will be living in the castle fulltime once we are married. Should we not be living there?"

Corbin floundered; he didn't have a proper defense against this line of reasoning. After all, it was his father's idea in the first place. "Well, uh, I would hope that we could think of my house as… a summer home, of sorts. A palace to escape the palace. It's quite popular nowadays."

Zelda narrowed her eyes, thinking as she drank her tea. "I will have to talk to my father about this," she said finally, "before I can give you my decision." She did not like what this whole idea of living with Corbin in _his_ house implied. Link would stay at the castle as he would not be needed to chaperone in Zelda's fiance's own home, and he had training to boot.

Link had been silent the whole time, staring between the two of them. He didn't like this idea at all, but his disagreement would mean nothing if the king wanted to do it. For the first time, he wished their lunch would hurry to an end.

-

A torturous and uncomfortable hour later, Corbin helped Zelda and Link collect and sort the plates into the proper baskets. Link shook out the picnic blanket while Zelda and Corbin stood near the horses.

"Will I see you at the ball?" Corbin asked. "I would like to take a dance with you."

Zelda smiled, all teeth. "Of course you will. I think that would be very… appropriate."

Corbin smiled back. "I will tell my father to await the king's decision on the matter, then. I do hope you would like to stay with us, Your Highness."

Zelda shrugged her shoulders. "We shall see."

Link walked to them, the blanket over his arm, and Corbin bowed to him. "It was good to see you again, Master Tolrose."

"You too," Link replied, although he didn't really mean it.

Corbin kissed Zelda's hand. "I shall see you in a few days, then."

Zelda nodded, watching as he climbed up on his horse and cantered off with a wave. The two of them stood there, watching the dust settle over the ground.

"Do you think he'll tell somebody?" Link asked.

"I don't know," Zelda replied. She shook her head. "But perhaps we should cool our passions for a while, in that case."

Link nodded agreement and helped her up onto her horse, climbing up and following her back to the castle, a respectful distance behind.

-

Corbin rode home in stony-faced shock. Hadn't Zelda accepted the betrothal? What was she doing alone with her guard then, the two of them on each other outdoors like two common people! A disgusting display! Especially if the rumors about Link were true; that he was a liar, a fraud. He must have deceived the princess, bewitched her somehow to manipulate her for his own physical desires. Corbin narrowed his eyes; he would certainly write to the king of this when he got a chance, to warn him that his daughter's own guard was making a pass at her virtue. He worked himself up into a good anger, intending to sit down and write the letter the second he got home.

He put his horse in the stables, stomped inside, avoided his parents, and locked his bedroom door, sitting down and writing at a furious pace. He would not sit idly by while his betrothed was entranced by some… charlatan, some conniving beast! Corbin wasn't jealous, just concerned! Really!

He worked and reworked the letter multiple times, trying to emphasize Link's offenses and downplay Zelda's involvement. In the end, it sounded more as if Corbin had rescued Zelda from nearly being raped, or at least that was the heavy undertone.

Corbin read the final draft five or six times, and when he was satisfied, he folded the letter, placed it into an envelope, and sealed it with wax, to be sent to the castle in the morning.

-

Dinner that night was quiet. The king was concerned, because Zelda seemed content to ignore him or answer his questions with a few words; she looked angry over something. Link, himself, looked on edge, and actually asked to be excused early.

The king let Link leave, and it was just himself and Zelda sitting awkwardly at the dining table.

"I ran into Master Corbin Golliet during lunch today," she finally said, her eyes narrowed.

"Oh?" The king tilted his head.

"He told me something quite interesting," Zelda continued through gritted teeth. "That the Grand Duke has made an offer of my living at their residence once the betrothal is settled."

The king nodded. "Yes, he has made such an offer. However, I did not tell you because I am considering turning it down. I would far rather have you in the castle, as you will be living here after marriage."

"That is what I told him," Zelda replied, much calmer now that she knew once again that her father was on her side. "He, however, believes their house would make a suitable secondary palace."

The king nodded again. "It might, but that will be something you will have to consider once you are queen."

"Yes, father." Zelda went back to her meal, a bit heartened, but not much.

-

After an hour, Link was brought some buttered biscuits, a cup of weak tea, and a note. The first two he'd requested, as he'd been hungry, but the third was from Zelda. It was a simple request for him to meet her for a nightcap in the library. Link took his time finishing his late snack, and headed to the library.

Zelda was already there in her evening robes, and she smiled expectantly at Link when he came in. She poured them both a small glass of sweetened sherry, and handed one to him. Link sat down quickly and took a little sip, wrinkling his nose at the taste.

"Because of the incident today, I… think it might be prudent if we restrain our affection for each other for a little while," Zelda started, folding her hands together. She hadn't bothered with a sip yet.

Link looked at her over his glass and nodded. "Well, yeah, I agree with you on that. We… it was a little close."

"Far too close," she interjected. "I cannot risk losing my kingdom and you so suddenly."

Link nodded his head. "Of course not."

Zelda studied her nails. "We shall start immediately, then. No more lunches in the countryside, no… adventures out in the maze. Agreed?"

Link looked down at his drink while Zelda stared at him. "Agreed," he added finally.

Zelda nodded her head and finally took up her glass of sherry, downing it in a gulp that made Link wince. "Good, then. Take me to my rooms."

She did not even let him kiss her hand when they got to the staircase, pulling her fingers slowly from his grip, refusing to make eye contact with him. Link was a little angry at her reaction; after all, it wasn't as if he was the only one who was so in love. Right?

-

Zelda ascended the stairs quickly, her jaw set and her eyes narrow. Putting on a face of anger helped to keep her tears at bay. But maybe it was for the best? They could work on being friends, strengthen bonds that would last well into her reign; a very important thing to share with someone she fully intended to make into one of her personal guards once his training had finalized. And it would be best if their romance halted now, so that it would not be harder later, when there could be far more serious consequences.

But all the same, she stormed into her rooms and shut the door tight, wanting to be alone for a while. She wriggled out of her dress and managed to undo her own corset, unhooking the busk and loosening the stays quickly, casting it aside and pulling on her nightgown. Her servants were mistaken in assuming she would be up late, explaining their absence; they were boozing in the kitchens, supposing that Her Highness would ring for them if she needed them. It was one of the few times Zelda was glad they did not constantly follow her like baby ducks; she did not think she could bear being around others that would want to know why she was so unhappy. She did not think she could hold off telling them.

The castle was a moody place that night.

Link laid in his cot, staring at the barrack room ceiling, even as his fellow soldiers snored and mumbled and grunted in their sleep, tossing and turning. Perhaps, he reconciled himself, it was good that they were taking this break. Not just because they could get in serious trouble, but because that way, he wouldn't be tempted to pull Zelda into a secluded corner and

He was only a mortal, after all, and even as an instrument to the Goddess' will, he had a will of his own. Once more, Link dug his nails into the palm of his hands, letting the sharp pain cool his anger and frustration. He never should have signed up for this. Link closed his eyes. The ball was in three days. He would act the perfect gentleman, and no one would suspect a thing of him. That he could hope for.

He rolled over in his bed, and forced himself to sleep.

-

The next day, Zelda awoke and wondered why she felt so miserable. It took her over an hour to remember that she was calling it off with Link, and when she did remember, she gasped and said, "Oh!" and it startled the girl doing her hair, who immediately screwed up the plait she was working on and had to backtrack a bit. Zelda shook her head, refusing to explain why she'd just cried out, and her maids dared to not press the issue further.

She ate breakfast alone in her rooms, staring out the window at the guards practicing. It took effort for her to put her back to the window and finish her meal. The maids fluttered around like panicked birds; she looked so moody today, and they just wanted to assure that they could do nothing for her. Was she absolutely sure?

Finally, Zelda spoke up. "I am not feeling very well today; I think I want to stay in and rest." The women nodded. It wasn't a complete lie, she _was_ feeling miserable. "Would someone write a note for Master Tolrose that I will not be seeing him for lunch?" she asked softly as she climbed back into bed. The women assured her that they would do such a thing, and left her rooms so she could rest and continue feeling sorry for herself.

-

Link got the note not an hour after he was done cleaning up from training. He read it a few times, and frowned. "She's avoiding me completely," he growled to himself. He crumpled the note in one hand and decided he would spend his day with her father instead. Those proposals would keep him distracted enough, he hoped.

The king was surprised to see Link so soon, but nodded and offered him a good-natured smile in any case, setting down a heavy stack of papers before Link's seat. "The newest ones sent today," the king informed him. Link looked it over warily, but every minute reading those was one less being a little angry with Zelda. So he started sorting into three piles—law, proposal, land barter. He was halfway through the pile when he discovered a sealed note. Well, the king was trusting Link with sensitive notes and most of the kingdom's land dealings (though those weren't usually sealed), why should this be different? Link tore it open and started reading. It was addressed to the king, written on heavy cream paper in a rushed, cursive hand. Link read slowly, but Corbin got right to the point-

_To Your Esteemed Majesty,_

_It is my deepest shame and regret to inform you that Her Highness the Princess Zelda may be in danger. I discovered Master Tolrise pushing her into a compromising position just yesterday, alongside the banks of the Hylian River. I apprehended Master Tolrise before he could compromise Her Highness, but I confess that I am alarmed at his uncouth boldness with Her Highness. I fear that he does not respect the sanctity of her virtue, nor appreciates what a sullied queen could mean for the fragile future of Hyrule…_

Link forced himself to stop reading. He was seeing red, and his heart was pounding in fury in his chest. The little snot had better pray to the Goddesses that he did not run into Link at the ball. Link glanced at the king; he was also deep in thought over a letter of his own. As quietly as he could, Link folded up the letter and stuffed it into his pocket, planning to burn it later. He wished to tell Zelda of what had transpired, but it occurred to him she would only cite it as more proof that their affection for each other had to cease immediately, lest others run into them and do not use such accusatory speech.

And they still couldn't get his fake name right!

-

Sick of her room and lacking in adequate books, Zelda finally left her room, still wrapped in her pajamas. It was late, well past dinner (which Link and the king 'enjoyed' in an uncomfortable silence, Link still fuming and the king lost in thought over worries of summer drought. They hadn't yet begun, but there was always a bad one in summer), and the castle was quiet, the occasional raucous laughter drifting from the kitchens.

Zelda escorted herself to the library, picking out a book and deciding, since the chairs were more comfortable on her back than a mountain of pillows, that she would linger near the windows, though it was dark and she could barely see a thing.

The book she selected was a grim story of one of the first queens, who had married and been betrayed by one of Ganondorf's first incarnations. She was painted to look like a traitor as he siphoned money from Hyrule and put it into Gerudo, building elaborate temples and irrigation systems through the desert. Those were the dark, early days. Zelda's great ancestor of that time would have been one of the Seers the queen relied on in times of war.

It was the original Zelda, although in that time the name had been spelled closer to Skaeldaea, Ancient Hylian for "She who Knows". That Zelda had seen the darkness Ganondorf wore as easily as a cape, and warned the queen time and time again. The queen believed her, but a Vision against a member of the royal family was considered treason in that time. Skaeldaea was hanged for her troubles, leaving her husband, Yynczi ("Butcher") and her daughter, Schaekzi ("Secrets"), behind. It was a sad story, even more so knowing it was one of the few times Ganondorf (his Ancient Hylian name was roughly Hyannyndaargh, "He of the Boar's Tusk Moon") had actually won for a while, until Skaeldaea's apprentice Skaeldania ("She who Sees") handed Yynczi's young nephew, Yyngdos ("Carver") a rusty, thin dagger, and told him of his destiny to assassinate the tyrannous king.

Zelda had not even opened the book yet, lost in memory. She traced the worn, gold title imprint on the cover. Had she ever told Link she could trace his ancestors back hundreds of centuries? Mayhap, when all had settled and she was safely trapped in marriage, their restrained friendship easy to swallow, she would show him.

A light outside one window caught her eye. Could they never stay more than several yards apart? Link was out there, lighting a match. This intrigued her, he did not seem the smoking type (except for that time at the ball, but really everyone was smoking, it just seemed appropriate). She squinted through the glass, frowning, watching as he held the match to a piece of paper, catching it aflame. Was it something he'd written to her? Was he planning something she'd ruined? Doubt clouded her thoughts as she watched the heavy paper turn slowly to ash, Link doing the same until it was nearly at his fingertips.

The last bit he flung on the ground and stomped on once, twice, three times with his boot heel, but he couldn't stop. He kicked and stomped at the ground, his hands in fists and his teeth bared. Zelda shrank back from the window, to stifle the urge to rush out and comfort him. Such a thing would only put them at square one right now.

Zelda forced her book open, and started reading.

------------

AN: Well, I suppose this poor thing isn't really very humorous anymore, is it? I'm sorry about the delays and the sudden downturn into Angstville, I can't guarantee it'll get better, either. But thank you everyone who didn't get sick of me yet and are sticking with it!


	13. Chapter 13

------

They spent the next day's dinner together, as Zelda's father would be right there, but not lunch. Link had gotten another note, and at the same time somewhat more annoyed, but he let it go when he saw her at dinner and realized how badly it was for the best. The king nodded at his daughter when she came down, smiling. "How are you feeling today, my dear?"

"I am feeling much better, Father. Thank you." Zelda smiled at him, eating small bites of her dinner. Link had eaten so much at breakfast and lunch (practice always made him ravenous) that he was no longer quite as hungry, and he picked at his meal.

The king looked between the two sullen children, and cleared his throat. "Ball tomorrow, hm?" he asked out loud, waiting for a response. Oh- Zelda had nearly forgotten.

"Yes, at the Marchioness du Celene's palace," Zelda answered.

"Oh, that's not so far, only an hour trip," the king muttered with a nod. He turned his attention to Link, who picked at the roasted potatoes on his plate and glared at them as if they'd betrayed his trust.

"Master Tolrose, because of the ball tomorrow, I hope you will not be offended that I will not require your presence in the study."

Link looked up, blinking once, twice. "Uh? Oh- no, Your Majesty, I'm not offended at all." He nodded his head. Great; he wouldn't even have that to distract him. The king was rather uncomfortable with all this dead silence around the table, and he made no complaint when Link and Zelda left early, but separately.

Zelda lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She should have done it days ago; put a stop to their kisses immediately after the ball. Foolish and stubborn, that was what she had been. They would be strung together at the ball, no doubt, but she believed that she could keep herself distant but civil. Link would understand. She closed her eyes and rolled over, forcing herself to go to sleep. It wouldn't do to look exhausted.

-

For about ten minutes the next day, Link sincerely wished that there was a ball every night, so that he would always have a distraction. Once practice finished, he was corralled and herded over to one of the private baths, where they attacked his sweaty hair and skin until it was pink (his skin, not his hair, but his scalp certainly felt raw).

While they attacked Link like a pack of harpies, Zelda was being woken up. She'd slept very little through the night, her nerves ringing like keys. She'd not had a premonition, but there was something of dread in her whenever she thought about the ball that was mere hours away. She wasn't sure why, either. The last ball had gone off without many hitches (except for Ruto's big mouth), why would this not be the same? She took her time getting ready, trying to soothe her anxieties while her hair was washed, dried, brushed, and set. The rhythm of the brush through her hair, usually quite relaxing, was not helping. She drank some tea and ate some toast, her stomach jumping awkwardly inside of her. Her helpful ladies did their best, using their knowledge of her tastes to select the hairdo (back from her face, but down, and gentle, curled waves throughout), the accessories (a three-stranded pearl choker in pristine white, attaching a dark green cameo to the front enclosure, and matching pearl earrings), and argued over her makeup amongst themselves (green shadow would be too harsh around her eyes, they agreed, but a soft pink or dark red lipstick was the great divider). Zelda twisted a thin gold band she'd placed on one finger, trying to relax through the mindless act.

It finally took the act of putting Zelda in her corset that brought her to rest. They tightened it as far as they dared, until Zelda gasped and the satin creaked against her straining ribs. The restriction bounded her nerves, holding her in place. Zelda closed her eyes and put one hand to her stomach, ignoring her ladies when they asked if it was far too tight. It held her together, and she wondered if her frantic state was because she was no longer allowing herself to be close to him. For her, the rest of the day went quite smoothly.

Link had tried, to the best of his ability, to explain that he'd no interest in having his hair styled for him, but the maids working on his look had insisted. If Link had any hopes for holding a continuing career in the castle, he'd better start giving in to their demands and resigning himself to the fact that he couldn't always have control. He tried not to linger on Zelda, sitting in her tower rooms. He poked the tip of one thumb continually with the point of an earring he was to wear later to endure the meticulous styling of his hair. They didn't even bother trying to get him in makeup this time.

The two of them dressed in their separate rooms at the very last minute, Link adjusting his coat over his shoulders and finding himself impressed with the effect. He thought, really, that he almost looked a bit sinister, his hair parted to one side and combed back, greased down with light wax. The embroidery around the edges of his coat was heavy with tiny pearls, and it was lined in a brilliant white satin. He looked nothing like himself at all when he looked in the mirror. Where was the country boy? The hardened warrior? He looked like the Viscount's son he'd been pretending to be, and he grasped, truly, that he didn't want a royal life at all.

Zelda was just as astonished at the effect of her clothing. The cut of the neckline was almost dangerously low, but she had no matching shawl to offer modesty, and those had gone out of fashion a few years since, anyway. Was this the queen she was to be? Aloof, alone, high above her subjects? She was striking, sure, and the clothing was beautiful, but… "Do I look.. cold?"

"No, Your Highness, the dress is lined. You actually look quite flushed. Do you feel cold?" asked a maid, not entirely understanding her question. Zelda nodded. Perhaps this was her premonition; that she needed compassion and warmth. She shook her head to herself, and headed downstairs to where the carriage waited.

Link was already there, and waiting, and he nodded to Zelda once when she entered. They carefully avoided each other's eyes as they headed to the carriage, followed by a single, apathetic guard who would sit in with them.

-

It was a very long, silent hour. Zelda and Link stared out the windows at the twilit landscape, and Zelda's nerves were starting to twist and wriggle again. She jiggled one foot nervously, her legs crossed at the ankle. Link only felt bored, and already uncomfortable in his clothing. Mostly because of how he'd looked; he was unnerved at the severity of his appearance. Almost like he could be cruel or hurtful to those who did not deserve it. He did not fall asleep this time, so he watched as the manor crawled into view over the horizon; all lit up like a chandelier.

They scrambled out of the carriage once it had settled to a stop, and from outside Link could hear the shrieks and laughter from inside the massive house, along with the faint strains of music. He only hoped he would not be bullied into remembering the dance steps he had, most certainly, forgotten. Zelda had to nudge him with her elbow to remind him to take her arm before they headed into the party.

-

It was cacophonous once inside the house. Women and men, already overcome with strong drink, screamed and laughed and ran after each other through the house. To Link's surprise, most of them were wearing masks. He looked at Zelda in surprise, and she shrugged in response. To their relief, the masks were handed out at the main door to the ballroom, packed nearly to the brim with people. He looked over, and Zelda was already slipping her mask over her eyes. Link followed suit, and they made their way carefully inside, prowling at the edges of the dancing mass together. At the opposite end of the room from the doors were the music players, a singing girl in a flashy, glittery dress and the band that played the accompanying instruments.

Link stared at the singer, thinking he recognized her wild red hair, and when he looked round to ask Zelda if she knew who the girl was, he found to his surprise that Zelda was gone. In a panic to keep sight of her, he looked over the crowd, standing as high as he could. But the densely packed collection of people gave him little of a view, and in desperation he pushed himself into the throng.

"Zelda?" he called, looking around. His voice was swallowed up by the cheering, talking crowd. Girls he did not recognize grabbed his hands and danced with him, pressing their bodies against his.

"Relax," one shouted in disdain as he tried to pull away, "it's a party!"

They pulled and pawed at him, laughing as he got away. There was a different feel to this ball. It was louder, bigger, and wilder, the people far more bold with each other. Link wriggled his way free of the dancing collective, and headed out of the ball room quickly, roaming through the rest of the house. It was as extravagant as the last place; solid wood furniture, polished to a gleam, scattered throughout the house, hand-cut crystal chandeliers with long candles made of quality wax burning merrily away, rugs as thick as cream draped over the wooden floor. He looked in rooms, but very sparingly. Most were empty or locked, a few were home to card games, and even two he caught partiers in compromising and embarrassing situations.

Dejected, and finding himself wandering in circles, Link returned to the ballroom, finding the buffet table and finding himself a drink, catching sight of Zelda again almost immediately. "There you are!" he cried, surprising himself with his loudness.

Zelda looked up, holding a small plate with strawberries and other foods. "You didn't hear me?" she replied. "I thought I warned you I was heading over here…"

"Ah, I must've not heard."

They stared at each other for a second, and awkwardly, Zelda took a thin glass and had herself a helping from the bright red punch, laced with brandy. She took a careful sip, and moved away from the table so as not to impede a line. Link selected small sandwiches and took a glass of the punch for himself before following her over to a few chairs scattered carelessly about at the edge of the dance floor. Zelda stretched out in her chair, lingering over her food.

They did not speak much, their silence stretching, growing, and any chance at conversation only grew more awkward by the second. Link said nothing when Zelda finished her meal and stood, heading into the crowd to find someone to dance with. He didn't eat much, and he did drink quite a bit, and when a girl he didn't recognize pulled on his hands, he stood up and went to dance with her.

-

Link did not see Zelda again for a very long while. He danced with other people, but not often, and managed to pull away after one dance with each of them. This wasn't anywhere near as fun as the last ball had been, and it was taking its toll on his patience. He pulled away from a repeat dancing partner reaching for his hand, pausing a moment by the refreshment tables and grabbing a fresh glass of punch. He headed out into the rest of the house, letting its quiet settle over him. It wasn't all silent; soft laughter echoed from other rooms, and there was still the muffled beat of the room he'd just left. Link picked a direction, and started walking.

Zelda hadn't been dancing for the last hour; she'd left the dance hall and moved on, heading into the first room with a card game and settling down at the table when the next round began. She was also steadily winning, to her delight, and the drinks were cold and delicious. They were kept in steady supply near her hand, and she flipped her cards quickly, grinning as she backed her opponents into a corner.

But by the time her eighth or so drink rolled around, the edges of the cards were fuzzy, the room was growing hot, and she was starting to lose again. When she lost the next round, she put the last of her cards down and rose, unsteadily on both legs. "Well, I think I know when to take my losses," she managed, clutching the edge of the table and leaning to one side. "Thank you for the lovely time." She nodded her head slowly, sloppily, in the general direction of the people she'd been playing cards with, and managed to carefully pick her way to the door, leaning side to side.

She made it out the door and into the dimly-lit hallway. Zelda paused, bracing herself on the wall with one hand, closing her eyes. Even with them closed, she could feel the room leaning heavily on its right, and slowly spinning to the left, pulling her down into the epicenter. She tried to pinpoint the exact direction the music was coming from, straining her ears and making herself dizzier. With a deep breath, Zelda forced herself to turn around and thumped in that direction, bracing herself against the wall with her shoulder. The rippling texture of the wallpaper was an odd comfort under her fingertips.

The pounding beat of the music got worse, centering itself in the back of her skull. Zelda struggled uncomfortably, and an unseen lump in the carpet grabbed her foot, pulling her down onto her knees. Zelda gasped in surprise, bracing herself on her hands and opening her eyes. She stayed like that, confident if she stood up that she would surely lose her stomach. Zelda rubbed her knuckles into the thick carpet, though it burned, and took deep breaths, trying to keep herself under control. She closed her eyes again, finding it easier to concentrate when she wasn't staring at the suddenly-garish pattern of the floor.

As she focused, trying to keep herself contained, someone knelt down and put their hands under her arms, pulling her up. Zelda opened her eyes and saw Link, surprise crossing his brow as he got her to her feet. Zelda took a deep breath, reaching with her hands and grabbing his shoulders. Without words, Link helped Zelda out of the hall, and into one of the few empty rooms nearby.

-

To her infinite relief, there was a cleaned chamber pot stashed under the bed in the room. Zelda grabbed it and hid on the opposite side of the bed from Link, coughing and retching the contents of her stomach into it. Link looked down at his shoes, waiting quietly until she was done, slowly lifting herself up and wiping her mouth with the corner of a bed sheet, quietly ashamed and still half-drunk. Link headed over to her and touched her shoulder. "All better?"

Zelda nodded, putting her hands to her face. "I feel so ashamed, I cannot believe I … I let myself be so…"

Link rubbed her arm, and Zelda sat heavily on the bed, Link joining her, his arm returning around her shoulders. They sat there in silence, Zelda's hands folded in her lap, silence settling over them like a blanket.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I am sorry that I've been so cold to you."

Link squeezed her with his one arm, but did not say anything. Zelda reached for his spare hand that rested on his own knee, and carefully looped her fingers with his. Link turned his head, his jaw brushing her hair as he pressed his lips to her temple. "I miss you," he whispered in a low voice, his tone going rough around the edges. "I miss our lunchtime talks, I miss walking the maze with you—

Zelda interrupted him, tears in her eyes. "I yearn for you," she spoke, not knowing she would say such a thing. They fell silent, and slowly, Link turned and maneuvered so that he was stretched out over the bed. Zelda moved to her back and turned towards him, curling into Link's outstretched arms and tucking her head under his chin. They wrapped themselves in their arms, pressing together and fitting as neatly as puzzle pieces.

-

Unexpectedly, the two of them fell asleep. When Zelda woke again, much more sober and feeling all the worse for it, she was confused and lost. She extracted herself from Link's arms, grappled her way out of bed, and slipped out into the hallway. The house was quiet in that pre-dawn sort of way, and the cold sweat of dread and fear tickled on her back. She headed back into their room and half-climbed on the bed, grabbing Link's arm and shaking him. "Link! Wake up!" she hissed.

Link groaned and twitched, blinking open his eyes and staring up at Zelda. "What is it?" The urgency in her voice made him alert in very short time.

"We need to leave, now." Zelda stepped back and rushed out the door, and Link climbed off the bed, following after her. As they rushed through the house, they saw few people, all passed out in chairs or couches, some on the floor entirely, propped up against walls or each other. Zelda made it outside first, and they spied her coach, the driver and footmen hopefully inside and asleep, the horses standing as they rested, their breath foggy cloud in the grey light. Zelda approached slowly, Link behind her, and the horses snorted and stirred when they got close. Link reached out and soothed them, rubbing their muzzles, while Zelda opened the coach door and peeked in at her snoozing coachmen.

"Gentlemen," she hissed, reaching in and tapping the closest footman on the knee. He jolted awake and gasped when he realized the princess was forced to wake her own men.

"Your Highness!" he cried. This disturbed the other two, the other sleeping footman slugging him in the arm and the driver pushing his plumed hat back off his eyes. The driver gasped when he saw Zelda, and scrambled to his feet. Zelda moved out of his way, and the jostling roused the last man enough so that he realized what was going on and also got out of the way, helping Zelda and Link into the carriage. Zelda shivered and tucked in next to Link, who took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her close against him. Zelda rested her cheek on his chest and closed her eyes. She was still so very tired, and the carriage ride was on well-traveled roads, with few bumps, and gentle ones at that. The two of them went back to sleep as the sun rose over the eastern edge of the world.


	14. Chapter 14

It was as if they had never agreed to separate themselves. However, they unconsciously decided to keep a degree of decency when out and about. When leaving the castle grounds, a guard followed them on occasion. When they were completely certain of having privacy, they sat closer, their knees touching through their clothes. They would stay up late, talking in the library, or not.

Once more, Link's hopes of being at her side in a more romantic way were kindled. His favorite thing to do was sneak up on her in the library, her back turned to the doors, and press his lips to the back of her neck. It never failed to elicit a gasp from her, and he would wrap his arms around her waist and pull her in close.

Zelda's favorite thing to do was curl up with him in one of the massive lounge chaises, her arms around his shoulders and his hands on her sides as they kissed. Link's hair was soft, and curled expertly around her fingers when she reached up to pull on it. Oh, they were so young and dizzy for each other. Zelda forbade Link from biting her skin, to negate any telltale marks, but she took free range of him, even leaving marks through his shirt. Under their noses, the betting pot grew.

-

In their ardor for each other, though, they'd forgotten about a tiny problem that would not go unnoticed. Zelda only remembered when, like usual, she headed downstairs to find Link for lunch and instead encountered Corbin Golliet. He looked as if he'd just entered the castle, and he beamed at the alarmed princess. "Good day, Your Highness. I was… thinking that it might be a good day for us to picnic for lunch, if I am not imposing on other plans…?" He was smiling so hard that his mouth twitched at the corners, and Zelda, putting a hand to her throat, forced herself to smile at him.

"That sounds like a novel idea, Master Golliet. However, um…" Zelda looked past him; Link was heading down the corridors, and he narrowed his eyes when he saw that it was Corbin. Corbin followed Zelda's gaze and turned, nodding in Link's direction.

"Master Tolrise," he spoke in a low voice, his smile gone. Link stopped a few feet from him, eyeing him carefully, glancing over to Zelda.

"Your Highness, are we still to lunch in the maze?"

Zelda reached up and rubbed the edge of one ear. It was still tender from yesterday's lunch. "Master Golliet here wishes to attend us. I think that it would be a most pleasant event, don't you?"

Link did not think so at all, but Zelda looked desperate to appease Corbin. "Yes, I think that will do quite nicely," he spoke, louder than usual for him.

So, a lunch for two was hastily rearranged into a lunch for three, and they headed out to the maze garden.

Corbin and Link stared each other down as Zelda poured the tea and handed out the sandwiches, waiting for one of them to break the icy silence. It took some time, and though Zelda commented on the weather and the lovely flowers and the food, the two men did little but grunt in affirmation.

Corbin's will broke first, and as he took a bite of sandwich, he commented, "honestly, Your Highness, I do wish you would reconsider the company you keep. When you reach the position of ruling queen, you will be judged by such most severely, as will I."

Zelda sat down her teacup with a sharp clink, and Link glowered at Corbin, his eyes narrowed. "The princess is capable of taking care of herself, no matter what you might believe you see with your own eyes," he returned, trying to keep his cool.

Corbin gritted his teeth. "You say this, but what do you know of the court life? You're virtually unknown, a mere Viscount's son, and not even his first. And before that you were a farming boy; to find you in the castle grounds at all is astonishing, not to mention how well they cleaned the reek of pig shi—

With that, Link stood up and punched Corbin in the mouth. He was tired of his babbling and jealousy, and remembering that accusatory, insulting note that was sent, a torrent of unknown rage flowed through him. He grabbed Corbin by the collar and pulled him up from his chair, headbutting him and letting him fall to the ground.

"You despicable little good-for-not!" he shouted, standing over Corbin with his fists clenched. "I ought destroy you right here, right now! Get up and fight me like the man you claim to be!" Link was pulling off his coat, the guards were running, Zelda was standing in panicked alarm, and Corbin rolled around weakly, holding his bleeding mouth and nose. "I'll make you unrecognizable to yer own mother!"

"Link, calm down!" she shouted, running around the table and taking his arm. The guards found them quickly, one helping Corbin to stand and the others partially-surrounding Link, trying to keep him at bay.

"That base little bastard attacked me!" Corbin screamed at first chance, gesturing with a bloody hand. "He's a madman, a manipulative liar! He should be beheaded!"

Link broke free of the guards' wall and grabbed Corbin with a growl of rage, knocking him down to the ground and delivering several good blows to the face with his fist. The guards grappled with him and pulled him up and off, and Zelda reached through them to touch Link's hand with her own, trying to calm him down. It worked, in its own warped, strange little way, and Link let the guards pull him back. Corbin was helped up and escorted inside to be cleaned up, and Zelda stared at Link, fear making her pale. She wasn't sure what the punishment would be, but it would not be good.

-

Within the hour, the castle was privy to what had happened. Rumors and spiteful whispers followed the workers of the castle around as they talked in low voices.

"Well, you know, most people suspect he's not a Viscount's son at all."

"Always knew there was something dangerous about him."

"He seemed likely to snap at any second."

"Do we really want the princess being guarded by such a deadly person?"

"There's a reason we nicknamed him 'Bruiser', it's what he does."

And so on. Link was escorted to his old, private rooms and the door was guarded, and Zelda was taken to her rooms, apologized to for the inconvenience, and shut in for her safety. The king heard the story from the guards first, who confessed they saw little of the actual fight, and then Corbin, who had lost a few teeth and was crying for his injured pride, stressing that Link had attacked him when he was "merely trying to offer advice to the princess about the court she would build someday". After, he asked for Zelda to be brought in.

Zelda had been in her father's study very, very few times. Once for some sort of punishment, another for when her mother passed, and once when he had asked her to help him select a worthy suitor from the marriage proposals, not long before Link had returned. She sat down in the leather chair and stared at her father's grave face, feeling sick.

"Dear daughter," he started. "I would like a mostly-unbiased account of what occurred this afternoon at lunch."

"I will do my best, Father," she responded, staring at him and fiddling her thumbs together.

The king nodded and sighed heavily. "How did it start?"

Zelda hesitated, licking her lips. "Master Golliet was granting me his unsolicited opinion that he did not agree with the people I spent my time with."

"Do you believe he meant Master Tolrose?"

"Yes."

"Go on."

Zelda recapped the fight, trying to be as neutral as she could, stressing that Corbin had not been attacked without provocation. The king nodded, listening to her. It did not take very long, and when she finished, the king sat in silence, thinking, and finally nodded. "You are dismissed, daughter. You will be summoned when I have reached a decision. Until then, I wish for you to refrain from visiting Master Tolrose."

"Father, you can't be thin-" Zelda was silenced by the king's hand going in the air to stop her. She nodded her submission, and stood, heading to the study door, stopping with her hand on the handle. "You… won't behead him, will you?"

The king looked at Zelda for several minutes. "Let us hope it does not come to that."

-

Waiting. The worst feeling in the world, no matter if it was for something good or bad. Zelda sat in her room, a few of her maids standing around her, watching and waiting for a command, something to do. Every little thing rubbed Zelda's skin wrong as she stared at the far wall, sitting on her bed with her arms folded. He couldn't behead Link, it wouldn't be right! He'd done little but react to an insult, she'd pushed that point.

But the king would not finalize his decision just yet. He had servants and knights of the castle called up at random, one at a time, asking them what they knew about Master Tolrose. For the most part, he got from them that while he seemed a polite and down-to-earth person, there was also something a bit scary about the young man. The knights he called upon all gave some variation on the idea that he would make a formidable opponent, and a deadly ally in battle. The maids, overall, thought he was a very charming and handsome young man, and they thought the princess certainly liked him, although he was a little scary when he was woken up.

"He's sorta ferocious, you know? Like a wild animal or somethin'," one of the less nervous maids said.

The king sighed when the last of the interviewed had left, rubbing his forehead with his knuckles. It had taken most of the day interviewing those people, but he could not stop now. He had to make a decision.

-

Zelda sat bolt upright when the guards came for her, staring at them with wide eyes.

"His Majesty requests your presence at the Great Hall, Your Highness," one of them spoke, his eyes dark. Zelda nodded and stood up, putting on her shoes. She had put on a heavier robe over her loose day clothes, dark red taffeta encrusted with semi-precious stones at the hems. It was a hearing, after all, though no one said such a thing. She only prayed that it would not end with a death sentence.

The castle was quiet, holding its breath. Zelda entered the Great Hall through one of the side doors, so that she would not interrupt the congregation of subdued employees. She looked towards them as she headed to her father and the thrones, surprised that there were so many. Link and Corbin were both in attendance, one guard standing near Corbin, and four of them surrounding Link. Zelda was both appalled at this display and a little proud that it would take so many (if they were lucky).

She sat down in her chair and bit her lower lip as her eyes met Link's, looking away quickly. He had not looked scared, but determined. The king cleared his throat, and a silence rushed over the crowd, as perfect as the breath before a storm.

"Today, We will hand down Our decision on the matter of the maze garden confrontation."

The king paused a moment before continuing, his gaze zeroing in on Corbin. "To Master Corbin Golliet. Though you were the one assaulted physically, you were not an entirely innocent party. To question the people my daughter spends her time with, particularly those that I approved of, is an insult not only to my daughter's intelligence, but mine as well. I cannot, in good conscience, permit her to marry a man who would wish to control her in such a manner."

Corbin's mouth fell open, and he tried to splutter a rebuttal. "Your Majesty, I am only concerned for the future of the kingdom after the rumors I have heard following Master Tilress and his affections fo—

"SILENCE!" the king shouted. He waited a minute before continuing. "Therefore, I annul the betrothal agreement that was set in stone between the kingdom and Grand Duke Golliet."

Zelda closed her eyes, but she only felt a brief flare of relief. After today, she was no longer sure if she would have ever been able to tolerate a marriage with him. She opened her eyes again when she heard her father shift in his seat.

"To Master Link _Tolrose_," the king stressed, glancing at Corbin quickly. Link straightened and set his jaw. He was ready for anything, now.

"Though, by all accounts, you were right to take a temper to such insults, I cannot, in good conscience, permit a dangerous person to walk the castle halls. Although most seem to respect you, there is also a fear of you, and the common knowledge that you have nearly slain a few in my employ, albeit on accident."

Link remembered every incident, and winced with shame.

The king continued. "I would not wish my people to be ruled by fear, nor my army to be run by it. Therefore, with a heavy heart, I strip you of your titles, and send you back to your home, to be escorted from the castle within one hour."

Link stared at the king, his mouth open in shock. Even a beheading would have been less cruel. Zelda looked at her father, and then out at Link, her eyes wide with alarm. Link bit his tongue to keep from saying anything out of turn.

"I am sorry," the king muttered. He stood, not noticing that Zelda did not, her legs locked into place with shock. "Let it be known!" he shouted. "Master Corbin Golliet is no longer my daughter's betrothed, and Master Link Tolrose is no longer my daughter's guard! Both are to be escorted from the castle within the hour! Dismissed!"

Zelda shook her head, breaking the stun over her legs, and flung herself from her throne, running. She slammed open the side doors and ran as hard as she could, tears running down her cheeks. Zelda did not stop until she reached the back veranda and grabbed the railing, stopping herself and clutching it tightly with her hands, shuddering in her sobs. Well, what did she think would happen? At least he could keep his life. But her father had a point; Link was somewhat unnerving to the staff. But why couldn't just Corbin go away? Why did they both have to go? She curled up against the cold stone railing and cried into her hands, until her throat was thick and she could no longer feel.

Link's first instinct was to run after her, and he did take a step or two, but the king ordered him to stop. Link turned back towards the king, glowering at him.

"Guards," the king said with a sigh, "escort Master Golliet to his waiting coach. Have a second prepared for Master Tolrose with his belongings."

"Your Majesty," Link replied, "I rode here on my own horse. I'd like to leave that same way."

The king nodded his head. "Very well."

-

Link sat in his once rooms, watching the maids carefully fold and pack the few outfits the castle had furnished for him, and a set of his old clothes. He wished they wouldn't; he would never wear them again.

"You still have some time before you must go, sir," one of the maids asked him. "Is there anything you would like to see one last time?" Link had an answer, but he doubted he would be allowed.

Epona was being an outright terror about leaving the stables; it was as if she knew exactly what was going on and was fighting it as hard as she could. Link headed outside as the clock struck the hour. Epona calmed when she saw him, but her eyes were still wide. "Calm down, girl," he urged her as the reins were handed over, rubbing her muzzle with his knuckles. She snorted and bumped her nose against his jaw, and Link headed around to her side, climbing up.

He turned and stared towards the castle, but he did not see Zelda. He closed his eyes and looked away, nudging Epona onward. The carriage was not far behind them. But where would he go? The charade they'd kept up was going to splinter when the coachman found Link had no other place to live. Link kept heading east for a little while, until they were out of the castle grounds and the building was tiny on the horizon, before he stopped his horse and turned towards the carriage.

"Something wrong, sir?" the driver asked, pulling his horses to a stop.

"Yes, uh, there's… something I have to tell you," Link replied, walking up. He took a deep breath. "I have nowhere to go. I don't have a home outside of the castle."

The coachman stared at him for several minutes. "But sir… didn't the king tell you? So as it wouldn't go to waste, he's granting you the little house that would've been your duchy."

Link stared at the driver. "Seriously?"

The driver nodded. "Sure enough, sir. It's actually more south than this, though, according to the map. I'll lead us that way."

"Why wouldn't he have told me?" Link demanded.

The driver shrugged. "Perhaps, sir, he wanted you to secretly know you were still in his favor."

-

The house was an hour south. They got up to it, and Link stared. "This cannot possibly all be for me," he asked the driver.

"Oh no, no, there's your servants' quarters inside, room for guests, the stables are out back…"

They rode up into the roundabout drive before the main doors of the house. It was far too big, in Link's opinion. The house was at least two stories tall, with wide windows all around, and an obviously new garden beginning to spring up. Ivy would be encouraged to grow over the rough brickwork, but for now they were tiny plants, getting their first grasp of the dirt and stone. Green plants dotted the rich black dirt that built a perimeter around the house, not yet growing in. Link dismounted Epona, and walked up to the doors. The driver was not far behind, holding a key to the house.

Link unlocked the doors and stepped in. The floor was polished wood, with thick rugs scattered every few feet. It was wide open and airy, with freshly plastered walls, a delicate border painted at the top of the walls. Most of the furniture was polished wood that matched the floor, and the upholstery was varied, depending on the room. He wandered the house, even peeking in at the kitchens, two empty and clean firepits at either end, a wide low table in the center for preparation, and a sink bordering the outside wall. There was a small side door near the sink counter, presumably for goods delivery. Over the main prep table hung a collection of copper-bottomed pots and pants, old but well-polished and clean. Link returned to the main hall, where the coachmen were unloading his clothes and several other belongings for the house.

The driver handed him a large parcel of money, clearing his throat. "This is to hire servants on, and get some of the first supplies for the house. You'll receive a monthly stipend from the castle, deposited for you in an account in town." The driver also handed him some papers with the name of the banker and where he could be found, and when he could expect the stipend. Link took the papers and money without a word, and once his few belongings were settled in at the house, the coachmen packed up and left.

Link walked the house one more time, ending at what he supposed was the master bedroom. He put the papers away in a drawer in a dresser near one of the wide windows, hesitantly, and went back downstairs, outside into the front lawn. Alone. The sky was getting dark, and he sighed heavily, realizing that if he wanted to maneuver around his house, he would have to start lighting candles.

He lit a single candle in its holder, and maneuvered to the kitchen where he worked on lighting a fire to cook himself something to eat.


	15. Chapter 15

A week passed.

Zelda wandered the castle like a ghost. She ate very little and talked very little to anyone. She spoke very little to her father, especially, even though she understood his reasoning. She just had no energy for it, no will.

The list of potential suitors began to pick up again, but her father failed to engage her in conversation on the subject. From time to time, she found herself glancing around, expecting to see Link coming back in from practice or ready to meet her for lunch.

On the seventh day, as she sat alone on her bed, one of her maids walked in, bowing respectfully and waiting for permission to speak. When Zelda gave it, the maid cleared her throat and said, "The king wishes to see you immediately in his study."

Oh great, that room again.

Zelda, still in her night gown, put on a robe over it and slippers, and went to her father's study. To her surprise, her father was standing, and after the young maid was dismissed, he had her sit down before himself.

"Zelda, my daughter. It pains me to see your heart aching so," he said, once she was seated.

"Father, you and I both understand why my heart weighs so heavily upon me. I also understand that there is little that can be done about that, due to the nature in which it is so hurt."

The king sighed heavily. "Let us not trouble each other with flowery phrases. Though he is no longer a part of court life, and a marriage between you would be impermissible… you do realize I would allow you to visit Master Tolrose, don't you?"

Zelda stared. "Visit…?"

"He has a house, a small duchy, really. Hour south of the castle. I would not begrudge my daughter any opportunity to visit someone that she considers a dear friend. Why… in fact, if you hurried yourself, you might be able to visit him for a late lunch now."

Zelda shook her head, her mouth agape with surprise. "But… I thought you did not want me to visit him, to have anything to do with him?"

"Of course not, my darling daughter. He is one of the few things that has made you happy. I won't take that away entirely."

Zelda hesitated. "You granted him a house?"

"Well of course… and, in light of far past events, a title. I suppose from this point on we should call him Grand Duke Tolrose."

Zelda stood. "I… I need to go get ready, father. I have someone I am meeting for lunch."

The king nodded and smiled thoughtfully as Zelda dashed from his study.

-

As she was riding south, she realized that she felt foolish at her overreaction of Link's departure. She'd be able to visit him, the same as any other friend. Why wouldn't she? The carriage ride was slow, and she stared determinedly out the window, wishing for a house to come into view.

"Where is it?" she whispered under her breath fiercely. How could an hour pass so slowly?!

When it did come into view, she admitted that she was impressed with its simplistic, rustic charm. It would make an ideal summer house, but it looked like it was a little bit… _much_ for Link, she thought.

The carriage pulled up in the court way and Zelda was helped out by her coachmen. They waited for a few minutes for the guards to open the doors from the inside. Zelda shook her head. "Open the doors for me, please," she asked of her footmen. They did so, rushing quickly up and pulling them open. Zelda walked in, looking around the house. It was beautiful inside, but most of it was unlit, and as far as she could tell, there was no one around.

"Hello?" she called, nervously. Her footmen, a bit nervous, followed her inside and let the doors shut behind them. Zelda headed down the main hall, her eyes wide and adjusting to the dark indoors of the house. Everything was quiet. Had they not gone far enough? But this was the only house she'd seen, and they'd certainly ridden an hour. Zelda followed the hallway through to the main dining room, which, to her surprise, was very well lit with wide open windows that let in a fresh breeze. She headed to the far door beyond the tables, most certainly the swinging door to the kitchen, and pushed it open.

She was right. The kitchen was hot, even with the open windows, and there was a smell of something delicious in one of the massive fire places. Hunched in front of it, Link sat on a stool, stirring something around in a heavy iron pan with a wooden spoon. Zelda stood utterly still and silent, watching him cook. Link wore simple, rough clothes, his hair hanging in his eyes.

She wasn't certain, but she could tell the second he 'felt' someone was in the room with him. Something went taut in his shoulders, although he kept stirring. The same time he must've looked up, Zelda realized he'd hung a small polished mirror over the fireplace, just barely in view so that he could see into it without moving his head much and see if he was being snuck up on.

The rough rasping sound of the wooden spoon on iron stopped, and Link went very still. "Zelda?" he asked into the fire.

"I… came for lunch," she replied with a faint smile. "If I'm not imposing, that is."

Link set the pan down on a grate that sat suspended just over the flames, and stood up, turning around and grinning at her. Zelda smiled brilliantly as he walked towards her in long strides, scooping her up in his arms and hugging her tightly.

"A bit late to it, aren't you?" he teased, muttering in her ear.

Zelda laughed and buried her face against his neck, under his jaw, his skin hot from the fire. "Only by a week," she replied.

They hugged each other for a while, until, remembering his food, Link went back to his hasty meal and stirred it so that it wouldn't burn, and Zelda went to tell her men that all was well and they could wait in the carriage.

"There's plates in the cupboard next to the sink on the right," he said, pointing. Zelda hesitated, nodding when she realized he did, in fact, intend for her to get them, and took down two, setting them on the wide preparation table, nearest to the fire. Link portioned out the lunch, and they each carried their own plate back into the dining hall, sitting close together. They ate and talked, just like old times, and now and again they bumped hands or elbows, eating their food and drinking fresh water that Link had collected from a well dug behind his home.

"You like it here?" Zelda asked when they finished, and Link was washing up.

"Yeah," he replied. "Got my own rules, got my own things, get to do it all myself and my way, you know? I like that."

"Mm, sounds nice," Zelda agreed. "I'm sorry I didn't visit earlier, I… didn't know if I could."

Link nodded his agreement, turning around. "I understand that; I can't say that I knew if you would ever see me again. If you'd be allowed."

Zelda traced one of the grains n the wood of the prep table with her finger. "Will you visit me at the castle?"

Link thought about it as he dried his hands on a towel. "If I'm allowed to."

"If I say you're allowed, then you're allowed," she responded.

They stood in silence, not looking at each other. Zelda tried to break the ice. "You know, you're the first Grand Duke I've seen that… doesn't have an army of servants and the finest clothes imported from other countries."

Link raised his brows. "Grand Duke?"

"Yes, it's… it's the title father gave you. You knew that, right?"

"Well, I knew I had a title, but I didn't…" Link stared, surprised. "Bastard just keeps winging out surprises, doesn't he?"

"Link!" Zelda cried, a stunned half-smile on her face.

"Oh come on, I just… he gives me a house, money, a title… it's like he didn't really want me to leave the court at all, which I wouldn't've minded too much, honestly." Link picked at some grime under one nail.

Zelda smiled a little to herself. "In my opinion, it sounds to me like my father wanted to give you a chance at something greater than being a lowly soldier."

Link looked up sharply, his gaze focusing on Zelda's face. "What do you mean by that?"

Zelda shrugged. "Just a thought." She straightened, smiling at him. "Walk me out?"

-

Before Link pushed open the main doors to let Zelda out, he kissed her hand. "Will I see you tomorrow for lunch?" he asked softly, looking at her.

"Of course," she replied, in just as quiet a tone. "I'll try to come a little earlier though, alright?"

"Alright," Link answered. He bit his lower lip, and then reached out, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her. They kissed a little bit longer, and finally he let her go. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I already said yes," she answered with a soft laugh. They kissed each other lightly, one more time, and Link pushed open the main hall doors, escorting her out into the sun. Zelda's coachmen collected her, bowing to Link, who nodded in return.

Zelda climbed into her coach and opened one of the windows, sticking her head out and smiling at Link, even as they cracked the reins over the horses and started them going. They waved to each other until they could no longer see each other, but it was far more sweet; because they had a tomorrow.


End file.
